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THE ELOQUENCE 



COLONIAL 



REVOLUTIONARY TIMES. 



WITH SKETCHES OF 



EARLY AMERICAN STATESMENAND PATRIOTS, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI. 



BY ^ 



'./ 



'sT 



REV. E; lii MAGOON, 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



CINCINNATI: 
DERBY, BRADLEY & CO. PUBLISHERS. 

18j 




•5" 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1847, by 
Derby, Bradley & Co. in the Clerk's Office of the Dis- 
trict Court for the District of Ohio. 



CINC INN ATI : 

Morgan ^ Overend, Printers. 



Cincinnati, Sycamore Street, April 30, 1847. 
Rev. E. L. Magoon : 

My dear Sir — 

By a resolution of the New England 
Society, of last evening, I am instructed in the name of 
the Board of Directors, and the Members, very cordiallylto 
thank you for your two briUiant and eloquent Orations, 
delivered on Monday and Thursday evenings of this week; 
and to request a copy for the press- 

If you accede to this request, the Orations will be 
brought out immediately in a permanent book form, and 
in a neat and attractive way, by one of our enterprising 
houses here, Derby, Bradley & Co. 
Very truly, &c. 

CHAUNCEY COLTON, 

Cor. Sec. N. E. Soc. 



NOTE INTRODUCTORY. 

The New England Society of this city requested the writer 
to deliver two orations on " The Popular Eloquence of the 
Colonial and Revolutionary Period of our History," and they 
were delivered. They now wish to print what they had the 
kindness to listen to with marked attention, and the manu- 
script is going to the press. Why not ? May not the humblest 
devotee, however insignificant, be admitted to the temple, 
provided he loves truly, and brings the best offering in his 
power to the shrine ? What is herewith presented is brief, 
certainly, for such a theme ; but it has cost more to make it 
thus than it would to have increased its bulk. 

The subject is a glorious one, and has been under consider- 
ation for ten years or more. It has been the author's custom 



• 



4 NOTE INTRODUCTORY. 

and delight frequently to ramble about the field of Lexington, 
and on Bunker's Heights — on the banks of the Delaware at 
Trenton, and along the shores of the Bay at Yorktown. — 
His favorite seat in "Old South" was in the upper gallery, 
where it is fancied that "Mohawk" cried out to the multi- 
tudes below — "Boston harbor, a teapot to-night !" — and the 
handsomest cannon ball to his eye is the one that sticks in 
the side of "Brattle Square."* One could wish they all 
would keep as still, but they will not. Masses of ore now 
lie bedded in hills, where the white man has scarcely trod, 
destined to be smelted for the work of carnage, and to rend 
down curtain after curtain of the drapery of Providence, 
until the banners of Liberty are planted under every meri- 
dian of our globe. The things that in our day we have seen, 
and the things our fathers have told us, are but — 

" The baby figures of the giant map 
Of things to come at large." 

Here, on this western continent especially, it is evident that 
mighty developments are yet in reserve. The time will come 
when the temples of science, literature and religion, gem- 
ming the highest summits of the Rocky Mountains, will 
reflect the sun's splendor from their aspiring domes, and from 
the sublimest terrace of all, girting Liberty's temple around, 
the finest genius of the Anglo-Saxon race will look down 
on splendid cities on either hand, studding the immense 
domain whereon accumulating millions of citizens, happy in 

* The reader, who is unacquainted with the early churches of 
Boston, need be informed that the *' Old South" is closely con- 
nected with many Revolutionary events. It was here, for in- 
stance, that " The Mohawks" assembled, and thence marched to 
destroy the cargoes of tea in the harbor. 

"Brattle Square" was the church Hancock usually attended. 
His name.'^cut near the great entrance, was rudely obliterated 
with a pick-axe, by " the Britishers." A cannon ball still lies 
half buried in the wall, near the eaves, where it was shot from 
the heights out of town. 



NOTE INTRODUCTORY. 5 

their toils and magnanimous in their enterprise, sing the choral 
song of the free, while the Atlantic's murmur and the Paci- 
fic's roar mingle and blend with equal notes in America'a 
grand jubilee. 

" Thou, my countr}-, thou shalt never fall, 

But with thy children — thy maternal care, 
Thy lavish love, thy blessings showered on all— 

These are thy fetters— seas and stormy air 
Are the wide barrier of thy borders, where. 

Among thy gallant sons that guard thee well, 

Thou laugh'st at enemies: who shall then declare 

The date of thy deep-founded strength, or tell 

How happy, in thy lap, the sons of men shall dwell ?" 

Often has the writer pondered on these things in Fanueil 
Hall, in the Hall of Independence at Philadelphia, and amid 
the ruins of the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg. Lean- 
ing against the tomb at Mount Vernon, or rambling in the 
precincts of Monticello; delving among musty records, or 
seated on venerable graves, with busy thoughts thrilling at 
his heart, he has meditated on the topics slightly broached in 
the small volume herewith submitted to the public. Think, 
reader, of those germs, as they struggled amid the snows of 
Plymouth, or drooped on the sands of Jamestown. Trace 
their growth as they were invigorated by successive storms, 
and estimate, if you can, the value of their legitimate and 
matured expansion, when in fruitful harvests they shall wave 
round the world. 

The following portraitures are but sketches done in little, 
as an artist would say. They are mere outlines, private 
studies, and genial recreations. Perhaps one day we may set 
up a larger canvass, spread a richer palette, and elaborate more 
extensively a national group. 

Cincinnati, May 1st, 1847. 



FIRST ORATION. 



JAMES OTIS, Orator of intrepid Passion. 
SAMUEL ADAMS, Last of the Puritans; 
JOSIAH QUINCY, Orator of refined Enthusiasm; 
JOHN HANCOCK, Dignified Cavalier of Liberty; 
JOSEPH WARREN, Type of our Martial Eloquence; 
JOHN ADAMS, Orator of blended Enthusias7n and Sobriety. 



SECOND ORATION 



PATRICK HENRY, Incarnation of Revolutionary Zeal; 
RICHARD HENRY LEE, The Polished Statesman; 
STYLES, DAVIES, DUCHE, STILLMAN, CARROLL, 

Specimens of the Patriotic Preachers of tliat day. 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Master of Political Sagacity; 
FISHER AMES, Orator of Genius and Elaborate Beauty. 



FIRST ORATION. 



The planting of English colonies in America 
was the beginning of an influence which 
stopped not at their original boundaries. — 
The world has witnessed its expansion. The 
human race has felt its power. To the world, 
then — to the human race — belongs their influ- 
ence, and in that their greatest glory. 

We are becoming a great nation, and al- 
ready, perhaps, are accustomed to contemplate 
the Colonial period of our history as a juvenile 
era. But, in one sense, we have had no na- 
tional infancy. We have had no age of bar- 
barism, no gradual transition from an obscure 
antiquity, with much primitive degradation 
adhering to our career. America, visited by 
the Anglo-Saxon race, like the statue of Pro- 
metheus touched by heavenly fire, awoke in 
adult vigor. Her first cry was for freedom, 
and her first struggle won it. We began with 
the experience of sixty centuries. We laid 
our foundations in the results which accompa- 



8 INTRODUCTORY. 

nied and glorified the opening drama of a new 
world — the sublimest battle ever fought by 
right against power. 

About the period of the first settlement of 
this country, the mental productions before the 
public in England, wereof the highest excel- 
lence. The discussion of constitutional prin- 
ciples, and the fervid strife for toleration in 
religious matters, had called forth the most 
potent intellectual energies, and produced 
some of the profoundest works in divinity and 
politics, to be found in any age or tongue. As 
in the ancient republics, and as is the fact in 
every land where the mind of man is allowed 
freely to act and speak, the most eloquent 
writers and profoundest orators were on the 
side of liberty and the rights of the people. 
As instances and proofs of this, put Locke and 
Algernon Sidney by the side of Filmer and the 
other parasitical advocates of the divine right 
of kings. It is a w^holesome lesson and a 
vigorous discipline, to read the leading authors 
of England who flourished between the acces- 
sion of Charles the First and George of Han- 
over. 

The germs of great principles began to 
spring up abroad, but their first productive 
growth was in American soil. A great truth 
was first proclaimed by our hardy colonists. 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

Avhich has since traversed oceans, and aroused 
continents. It is impossible to exaggerate its 
ultimate effects, not merely upon this western 
hemisphere, but upon the father-land and the 
remotest east. The first throbs of liberty here 
created the tremendous revolutions of Europe, 
the convulsive spasms of which still agitate 
the oppressed of all lands. The experiment 
which demonstrated the practicability of estab- 
lishing a self-governing republic over a vast 
domain, is an example which it will be impos- 
sible for aristocracies, kings, and emperors, 
either to resist or restrain. 

It was an era of vast energy, a combination 
of physical force and profound erudition, ex- 
emplified by the French in the prodigies which 
they executed while truly inspired by the ge- 
nius of libert3^ A little army, composed of 
soldiers and scholars, subdued cities and pene- 
trated citadels, planted institutes and observa- 
tories, schools of agriculture, and all the arts 
of civilization, from the valley of the Rhine to 
the Delta of Egypt. 

But in the birth-place of that spirit, on the 
sublimer field of its primitive conflict and most 
glorious conquest, in the American colonies, 
the main force was mental rather than martial. 
Eloquence, then, was fervid, bold, and gigan- 
tic, like the revolution it defended. Then, ge- 



10 INTRODUCTORY. 

nius was hailed as a divine gift. No tram- 
mels were imposed upon imagination — no drag 
chains crippled patriotic aspirations — no limit 
marked the boundaries, up to which daring 
thought might go, but no further. 

It should be neither uninteresting nor un- 
profitable to glance back upon those times, 
and contemplate a few of the leading minds. 
In a sense equally elevated, and more relevant 
to ourselves than Milton expressed, let us — 

" To the famous orators repair, 

Those ancients, whose resistless eloquence 
Wielded at will that fierce democracy, 
Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece 
To Macedon and Artaxerxes's throne." 

In considering the eloquence of the Colonial 
and Revolutionary period of our history, we 
shall find less variety in the works of the ora- 
tors than in the orators themselves. So ab- 
sorbed were the statesmen of those days in the 
immediate and pressing avocations of the 
crisis, that they bestowed little or no strength 
on tasks not imperiously exacted by great 
public duties. But we shall find such men as 
Otis, and Adams, and Henry, and Hamilton, 
and Ames, fine embodiments of our early elo- 
quence. They were among the great and 
gifted spirits of the heroic age of American 
oratory, and will forever illustrate the grandeur 



JAMES OTIS. 11 

of its sublimity, the wealth of its magnificence, 
and the splendor of its imperishable glories. 

JAMES OTIS 

Was born February 5th, 1725, in what is now 
called West Barnstable, Massachusetts. He 
entered Harvard College, June, 1739, and, in 
due course, graduated with high honors. After 
completing his classical studies, he devoted two 
years to elegant literature before entering upon 
the study of a profession. He was exceedingly 
fond of the best poets, and in the passionate 
emulation of their beauties he energized his 
spirit and his power of expression. He did 
not merely read over the finest passages — he 
pondered them — he fused them into his soul — ■ 
and reproduced their charms with an energy 
all his own. In Jhe skill of pouring the \vhole 
spi rit of an author ii ito^the most familiar ex- 
tract, making the heart bleed at jthe sorrows of 
Hecuba, and the soul quake under the impre- 
c ations of Lear — ajtalent of the jy.o^(gg|.^^^ty 
i":,E2EHl&L!lM^^s^5 and^ap^alalfiuxifiijeia^wiel- 
ded to the noblest ends — James Otis excelled. 
His education was " liberal," in the true and 
noble sense of the term, and to the end of his 
brilliant career he prosecuted his studies with 
untiring industry. In the midst of innumera- 
ble professional toils, he wrote a valuable work 



12 JAMES OTIS. 

on Latin Composition, and another on Greek 
Prosody, the latter of which remained in man- 
uscript, and perished with all his valuable 
papers. 

As completely armed as he was with scho- 
lastic tools, in his public speeches he never 
played the artificial rhetorician. Before the 
crowded auditory, he resigned all to the noble 
impulses of his ardent nature, and sought a 
connection of ideas rather than w^ords — or 
rather he sought no relation, and thus wielded 
the true one; for passion, when deep and hon- 
est, has a logic more compact, and more con- 
vincing even, than reason. Figures that are 
striking, emotions that are fleeting, intermingled 
with close reasoning and calm repose, consti- 
tute an eloquence universally popular, because 
adapted to our nature. Thoughts must not 
present a dry, anatomical form, allowing the 
spectator coolly to count the muscles, the ten- 
dons and the bones ; they must be clothed with 
flesh, all glowing with a latent heat that gives 
the body quick motion, and makes it tremble 
with the energies of immortal life. The frag- 
ments of oratorical, CQjqapositions which remain 
. to us offir. Otis, are marked by sudden transi- 
tions7T)old Imagery, rapid reasoning, st^rn .de- 
ductions, and overvv^helming appeals. He was 
Ifearless, impetuous, and imperiously indepen- 



JAMES OTIS. 13 

dent. These are the mental qualities which 
constitute a fascinating speaker. The great 
body of the people comprehend eloquence and 
genius only under the emblems of force ; they 
are ready to respect that which they love, and 
will yield wilHngly to that which impels them ; 
they comprehend that which is easily heard, and 
deeply venerate the heart that has profoundly 
moved them. The commanding form, stento- 
rian lungs, and flashing eye, are indispensable 
adjuncts to the popular orator. 

In respect to physical ability, Otis was hap- 
pily endowed. His biographer says, " his vqicel 
and_^maniier were verjr impressive. The ele- 
vation of his mind, and the known integrity of 
his purposes, enabled him to speak with deci- 
sion and dignity, and commanded the respect 
as well as the admiration of his audience. 
His eloquence showed but little imagination/ 
yet it was instinct with the fire of passion." f' 

During the period of colonial subordination, 
Otis was the constant vindicator of American 
rights ; and when British usurpation became 
as burdensome as it was unjust, he defended 
his countrymen with an eloquence whose ulti- 
mate influence transcended his own sublime 
aspirations. He sowed the seeds of liberty 
in this new world, without living to see the 
harvest, and, probably, without ever dream- 
2 



14 JAMES OTIS. 

ing what magnificent crops would soon be 
produced. 

He first became famous in history, by his 
well-known opposition to " Writs of Assist- 
ance." When the order relating to these came 
from England, Otis was advocate-general of 
the colony of Massachusetts. Deeming the 
writs to be illegal and tyrannical, he refused 
to enforce them, and resigned his ofiice. At 
the request of the colonists, he undertook to 
argue against the writs, and met in fierce 
strife his veteran law-teacher, Mr. Gridley, 
then attorney-general. The conflict and con- 
quest were reported by a. sagacious youth, des- 
tined to be the second President of a mighty 
Republic on these western shores. 

" Otis was a flame of fire," says John Adams, 
in his sketch of the scene. " With a prompti- 
tude of classical allusions, and a depth of re- 
search, a rapid summary of historical events 
and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a 
prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, and 
a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he 
hurried away all before him. The seeds of 
patriots and heroes were then and there sown. 
Every man of an immense crowded audience 
appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to 
take arms against Writs of Assistance. Then 
and there w^as the first scene of the first act of 



JAMES OTIS. 15 

opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great 
Britain. Then and there the child Independ- 
ence was born. In fifteen years, that is, in 
1776, he grew up to manhood, and declared 
himself free." 

That spark fell where it kindled; and we 
shall hereafter have occasion to show how that 
the third President of the United States was in 
a political sense born simultaneously with the 
first cry for liberty enunciated in the colony of 
Virginia, by the great natural orator of the 
South. 

The time to favor freedom, the set time for 
the advent of a powerful advocate of popular 
rights, like Otis, had come. Men adapted to 
the wants of their age are never wanting — 
when portentous storms are lowering — when 
the battles of freedom are approaching — when 
the excited ocean of human emotion waves 
around some firm, heroical leader, as where — 

" The broad breasted rock 
Glasses his rugged forehead in the sea." 

The unutterable effects of eloquence are pro- 
duced less by the genius of the speaker, than 
by the sympathy of the audience. They re- 
ceive with rapture what their own ardor has 
half inspired. Deep feeling, kindred to the 
orator, opens each heart and soul to the stream 
of his burning thoughts. Assembled multi- 



f. 



16 JAMES OTIS. 

tudes love that which dazzles them, which 
moves, which strikes, and which enchains 
them. In the best orations of the ancients, 
we find not a multiplicity of ideas, but those 
which are the most pertinent, and the strong- 
est possible ; by the first blows struck ignition 
is produced, and the flame is kept blazing with 
increased brilliancy and power, until guilt 
stands revealed in terror, and tyranny flies 
ao:hast. 

Otis was just the man to kindle a conflagra- 
tion, to set a continent on fire by the power of 
speech. His eloquence, like that of his distin- 
guished successors, was marked by a striking 
individuality. It did not partake largely of 
the colossal firmness of Samuel Adams ; or of 
the intense brilliancy and exquisite taste of 
the 3'ounger Quincy; or the subdued and 
elaborate beauty of Lee; or the spontaneous- 
ness and profundity of John Adams; or the 
rugged and overwhelming energy of Patrick 
Henry. He traversed the field of argument 
as a Scythian warrior scours the plain, shoot- 
ing most deadly arrov/s when at the greatest 
speed ; he rushed into forensic battle fearless 
of all consequences, and, as the ancient war- 
chariot would set its axle on fire by the rapid- 
ity of its own movement, so would the ardent 
soul of Otis becom.e ignited and fulminating 



SAMUEL ADAMS. 17 

with thought. When aroused by some great 
crisis, his eloquent words were Hke shafts of 
granite heated in a volcano; his impetuous 
soul shot forth like a cannon-ball, crushing as 
it goes, and crushing what it reaches. 

On the occasion referred to above, the torch 
was kindled which lighted the minions of regal 
power to their tombs. "I do say in the most 
solemn manner," continued John Adams, that 
Mr. Otis' oration against writs of assistance, 
breathed into this nation the breath of life. 

Compared with English orators, our coun- 
tryman most resembled Sheridan in natural 
endowment. Like him, he was unequalled 
and unrivalled in impassioned appeals to the 
general heart of mankind. He swayed all by 
his electric fire, charmed the timid, and in- 
spired the weak, subdued the haughty, and . 
enthralled the prejudiced. / 

SAMUEL ADAMS. 

Of this celebrated man, as of James Otis, there 
are but few written remains. The orators of 
those days acted, wrote and spake, as though 
they felt deeply that they were born for their 
country and for mankind. They were evidently 
more intent in laying the foundation of great 
institutions for the benefit of posterity, than in 
recording transient memorials of themselves- 
2* 



18 SAMUEL ADAMS. 

The great man of whom we now speak was 
born in Boston, September 27th, 1722. He 
was educated at Harvard College, and receiv- 
ed its honors in 1740. He first studied divinity, 
but afterwards devoted his talents entirely to 
the welfare of his country. He possessed a 
calm, solid, and yet polished mind. Above all 
the men of his day, he was distinguished for 
sound, practical judgment. All prominent 
statesmen looked to him for counsel. He 
aided Otis in preparing state papers; and a 
direction to the printers, attached to some of 
Josiah Quincy's manuscripts, reads — "Let 
Samuel Adams, Esq. correct the press." 

Another peculiarity of Samuel Adams was, 
his profound and minute acquaintance with 
the nature of man. He had studied its secret 
springs, and could move them at pleasure. 
He knew that the human heart is like the 
earth. "You may sow it and plant it and 
build upon it in all manner of forms ; but the 
earth, however cultivated by man, continues 
none the less spontaneously to produce its ver- 
dures, its wild flowers, and all varieties of 
natural fruits." The spade and the plough 
trouble not the profounder depths where innu- 
merable germs are hid. The identity of this 
planet on which we live is not more perpetual 
than that of human nature. Its latent im- 
pulses we must know. Its spontaneous pro- 



SAMUEL ADAMS. X9 

ducts we must learn to employ, if we would 
toil among mankind with success. 

Samuel Adams possessed great firmness of 
character; he was not to be moved by either 
the bribes or terrors of power. Governor 
Hutchinson, who had tried the first, wrote in 
reply to a friend — ■" Such is the obstinacy and 
inflexible disposition of the man, that he never 
can be conciliated by any ofiice or gift what- 
ever." 

Governor Gage attempted to intimidate him 
by threatening an arrest for treason. Mr. 
Adams first demanded of the messenger, CoL 
Fenton, a pledge of honor that he would 
return to Gage his reply just as it was given, 
and then rising in a firm manner, he said — 
" I trust I have long since made my peace with 
the King of kings. No personal consideration 
shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause 
of my country. Tell Governor Gage, it is the 
advice of Samuel AdajJis to him, no longer to in- 
sult the feelings of an exasperated people." 

But pure and exalted patriotism is the most 
prominent feature in our hero. The freedom 
and prosperity of his country ; the union of all 
her sons in a common and national fraternity ; 
and the advancement of moral truth, harmony, 
and virtue, were the grand objects of his unre- 
mitted pursuit. 



20 SAMUEL ADAMS. 

The idea of assembling a congress of the 
colonies, which afterwards led to the organ- 
ization of the Continental Congress, originated 
with him. As a delegate in that body, he 
early became conspicuous. He was placed 
upon every important committee, wrote or 
revised every report, and had a hand or a 
voice in every measure designed to counteract 
foreign t^^ranny. The people of America soon 
recognized in him one of their most efficient 
supporters, and the government in England 
openly proclaimed him one of the most invete- 
rate of their opponents. 

After he had received warning at Lexington, 
in the night of the 18th of April, of the intend- 
ed British expedition, as he proceeded to make 
his escape through the fields with some friends, 
soon after the dawn of day, he exclaimed, 
"This is a fine day!" "Very pleasant, in- 
deed," answered one of his companions, sup- 
posing he alluded to the beauty of the sky and 
atmosphere. "I mean," he replied, "this day 
is a glorious day for America !" Encompassed 
as he was by dangers, every personal consid- 
eration was lost in his ardent hopes for na- 
tional liberty. 

As an orator, Samuel Adams was peculiarly 
fitted for the times on which he had fallen. 
His language was chaste, concise, and persua- 



SAMUEL ADAMS. 21 

sive. He had more logic in his composition 
than rhetoric, and was accustomed to convince 
the judgment rather than inflame the pas- 
sions ; and yet, when the occasion demanded, 
he could give vent to the ardent and patriotic 
indignation of which his heart was often full. 
His enunciation is said to have been remark- 
ably slow, distinct, and harmonious. His 
thought was rich, his patriotism was undoubt- 
ed, and his personal worth w^as of the most 
exalted charaxter. His influence on the desti- 
nies of his country was probably second to that 
of no other man. He had not the power of con- 
vulsing or subduing the popular mind in tumult- 
uous debate, but he could privately lea,d the 
leaders. Plain, quiet, indigent, sagacious old 
puritan as he was, now melting his stern soul 
into unwonted tears of joy, and pacing the 
"common" with exulting step, because that 
morning he had " won that chivalrous young 
aristocrat, John Hancock," to the popular 
cause ; and now glancing with a sly twinkle 
in his eye, at fiery resolutions pendant from 
the " Tree of Liberty," purporting to have been 
produced by the serene goddess herself, but 
which, he well knov/s, first saw the light by 
his solitary lamp ; and anon ensconced behind 
the "deacon's seat," in "old south," with an 
immense throng crowding the double galleries 



22 SAMUEL ADAMS. 

to the very ceiling, he stealthily passes up a 
pungent resolution, which kindles some more 
excitable mouth-piece, and finally inflames the 
heaving and swelling mass with spontaneous 
cries of "Boston Harbor a tea-pot to-night!" 
Why he was indeed a power behind the throne 
greater than the throne, he ruled the winds 
that moved the waves. 

Samuel Adams was the last of the Puritans, 
and the most puritanic of all our statesmen. 
Others were endowed with the more splendid 
gifts of fortune, and more flexile powers of 
popular harangue; but he, above all his co- 
temporaries, glorified with his incorruptible 
poverty the revolution which he was the first 
to excite and the last to abandon. From his 
soul of steel a spark of true fire was early 
elicited. On taking his second degree at Har- 
vard, he maintained the noble thesis, that it is 
lawful to resist the supreme magistrate if the 
commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved. 
Thus, when but twenty-one years old, twenty 
years before the stamp act was conceived, he 
expressed in two lines the whole philosophy 
of the American Revolution. 

If eloquence be correctly defined as the art 
of gaining a cause by the use of words, then 
was Samuel Adams an eloquent man. The 
stream of his argument moved along in ma- 



JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 23 

jestic simplicity, not reflecting exuberant flow- 
ers, nor creating profuse foam, but quickening 
and fertilizing every thing in its course. He 
resumed without the ostentatious forms of 
logic ; persuaded, without displaying the graces 
of persuasion; and led the hearer irresistibly 
to conviction, without condescending to solicit 
the belief which he was so powerful to compel. 

JOSIAH aUINCY, JR. 

Made a deep impression on his co-patriots, 
and gave direction to the destinies of the 
remotest posterity. 

He was born in Boston, February 23d, 1744; 
graduated at Harvard in 1763, and in due time 
took the degree of Master of Arts, with very 
high reputation. His theme on the occasion 
was "patriotism," and is said to have been 
remarkable both on account of its composition 
and delivery. He was early distinguished at 
the bar, and has rendered his name immortal 
as a patriot. The cultivation of elegant lit- 
erature supplied his pastime, but love of coun- 
try was the strong passion of his soul and the 
habitual inspiration of his public toil. 

The peculiar excellence of his oratorical 
character was refined enthusiasm. The exer- 
cise of this was frequent and most effective . 
In the great debates which he mainly led in 



24 JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 

Faneuil Hall, on the Stamp Act, the Boston 
Massacre, and the Boston Port-Bill, the pathos 
of his eloquence, the boldness of his invectives, 
and his impressive vehemence, powerfully in- 
flamed the zeal and aroused the resentment of 
an oppressed people. 

True enthusiasm is no other than the sub- 
lime inspiration of an imagination vividly ex- 
alted, always united to reason, which it does 
not sacrifice, but which it animates with the 
interest and pungency of impassioned senti- 
ment. It is not to astonish by the scaffolding 
of his learning, that the true orator addresses 
assembled multitudes; it is to agitate, instruct, 
and subdue them. True eloquence dissipates 
doubt and rends prejudice, as hot shot explode 
a magazine; it is heat combined with force. 
Hence Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, compared 
Demosthenes to a sacred fire kindled on the 
acropolis at Athens, to illuminate and warn 
a people equally blind and careless, upon ques- 
tions of the greatest moment. 

The orator of the people must vividly arouse 
in his own bosom all the grand sentiments of 
liberty, equality, humanity, and virtue, which 
are dormant in the hearts of all men. Before 
their fixed eyes and open mouths and swelling 
bosoms he must evoke the gigantic images of 
religion, country and glory. He must be able 



JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 25 

to make the meadows smile at their feet, and 
the shepherd's pipe of peace sound from dis- 
tant hills ; or, if it better suit his purpose, he 
must banish all pleasing images, and wrap the 
awed multitude in gloom made, doubly fearful 
by earthquakes beneath and thunders on high. 

Quincy appeared at an auspicious moment 
for the exercise of his peculiar talents. The 
statue of Liberty was not yet cast, but the 
metal was abundant, was already boiling in 
the furnace, and how soon the glorious work 
was to be consummated, is indicated by the 
following extract of an address which our ora- 
tor published in the Boston Gazette, October, 
1767. 

" Be not deceived, my countrymen. Believe 
not these venal hirelings when they would ca- 
jole you by their subtleties into submission, or 
frighten you by their vaporings into compli- 
ance. When they strive to flatter you by the 
terms, ' moderation and prudence,' tell them, 
that calmness and deliberation are to guide 
the judgment; courage and intrepidity com- 
mand the action. When they endeavor to 
make us ' perceive our inability to oppose our 
mother country,' let us boldly answer : In de- 
fence of oui- civil and religious rights, we dare 
oppose the world ; with the God of armies on 
our side, even the God who fought our father's 



26 JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 

battles, we fear not the hour of trial, though 
the host of our enemies should cover the field 
like locusts. If this be enthusiasm, we will 
live and die enthusiasts. Blandishments will 
not fascinate us, nor will threats of a 'halter,' 
intimidate. For under God, we are deter- 
mined, that wheresoever, whensoever, or how- 
soever, we shall be called to make our exit, 
we will die freemen. 

" Well do we know that all the regalia of 
this world cannot dignify the death of a vil- 
lain, nor diminish the ignominy, with which a 
slave shall quit his existence. Neither can it 
taint the unblemished honor of a son of free- 
dom, though he should make his departure on 
the already prepared gibbet, or be dragged to 
the newly erected scaffold for execution. With 
the plaudits of his conscience he will go off 
the stage. A crown of joy and immortality 
shall be his reward. The history of his life, 
his children shall venerate. The virtues of 
their sire shall excite their emulation." 

This is a fair specimen of Mr. Quincy's com- 
position. It indicates a power to seize boldly 
on the attention of an audience. It is a style 
calculated to arouse its pity, or its indigna- 
tion, its sympathies, its repugnances, or its 
pride. It is thus that the popular orator must 
deal with his fellow men, whether addressing 



JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 27 

them through the pen or living voice. He 
must seem to love the public breath and re- 
ceive its inspiration, w^hile it is himself who 
communicates to others his ow^n. When he 
shall have, in a manner, detached all the souls 
of the community from their bodies, and they 
have come to group themselves at his feet, and 
are docile under the magical power of his look, 
then might it be truly said, that all those souls 
had passed into his own. Behold how they 
undulate in sympathy with the movements of 
the oratorical mind, the master whom they 
rapturously obey. They advance or retire, 
are raised or depressed, as he wills. They 
are suspended upon his lips by the graces of 
persuasion, and b}^ a glorious abandonment to 
his own strong emotions, he captivates and 
subdues every listening spirit. 

In his popular harangues, Mr. Quincy pro- 
duced the results of his extensive reading in a 
simple and most forcible manner. He w^as 
familiar with the best writers in poetry and 
prose, and frequently quoted from them, espe- 
cially the English dramatists. Tradition says 
that in doing this, the execution was extraor- 
dinary. He gave forth not merely the ver- 
biage, the cold medium of sentiment, but he 
vividly reproduced all that his author origi- 
nally designed to express. He quoted a lite- 



28 JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 

rary gem as though every line and word had 
been early transplanted into his heart — had 
been brooded over in silence and bathed at 
the fount of tears, to burst forth when called 
for, like the spontaneous and native growth of 
his soul. 

However severe he was in private disci- 
pline, and strictly logical in the construction 
of his argument, in public, he stood unshackled, 
and careered over the popular mind on the 
wings of a free and flexile imagination. We 
should estimate addresses made to miscella- 
neous audiences by the circumstances which 
demand a little licence and a good deal of 
freedom. Who would be so rash as to apply 
the square and compass to the delicate lyre of 
Homer, or the sublime one of Pindar? Thus 
wounded and encumbered, the divine instru- 
ment which before was redolent of ravishing 
harmony, henceforth utters nothing but sharp 
and discordant sounds. 

This refined enthusiasm, so habitually exem- 
plified by Mr. Quincy, constituted the main 
force of his public influence. His speech 
might generally be defined as being logic set 
on fire. This is true of all effective eloquence. 
The speaking that is not imbued with the 
living light and heat of profound emotion, is 
like the statue of Polyphemus with his eye 



JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 29 

out; that feature is absent which most shows 
th^soul and life. 

About the last of September, 1768, hordes 
of foreign troops were landed in Boston from 
fourteen ships of war. With muskets loaded, 
bayonets fixed, drums beating, fifes playing, 
and fortified by a whole train of artillery, these 
mercenary soldiers took possession of the com- 
mon, the state-house, the court-house, and 
Faneuil Hall. It was at this moment of ter- 
ror and danger that Quincy openly and fear- 
lessly addressed his townsmen in a memo- 
rable speech. The following is an extract 
from his oration, the whole of which was 
reported in the Boston Gazette of October 3. 

" Oh, my countrymen ! what will our chil- 
dren say when they read the history of these 
times, should they find we tamely gave away, 
without one noble struggle, the most inval- 
uable of earthly blessings ? As they drag the 
galling chain, will they not execrate us? If 
we have any respect for things sacred; any 
regard to the dearest treasure on earth; — if we 
have one tender sentiment for posterity; — if 
we would not be despised by the world; — let 
us, in the most open solemn manner, and with 
determined fortitude, swear, — we will die, — if 
we cannot live freemen !" 

This is enough to suggest that, however 
3* 



30 JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 

powerful this orator was with his pen, he was 
much more potent when seen and heard in 
the impressive act of living and spontaneous 
speech. 

The spirit of eloquence is a social spirit, 
dwelling in the midst of men, making appeals 
to their sympathies, beguiling them of their 
fears, and aggrandizing their minds. It gath- 
ered its thousands around the bema and ros- 
trum of old ; it nerved nations like the tocsin of 
war, and made aggressions on the kingdoms 
of ignorance and tyranny with the clear clarion 
cry of perpetual triumph. It was heard at 
the banquet of artists, the festival of authors, 
and the coronation of heroes. Eloquence was 
twin-born with Liberty; together they have 
harmoniously lived through all vicissitudes, 
and together they have migrated from land to 
land. The spirit of eloquence is the sun, 
which from its rising, inspired the statue of 
Memnon ; it is the flame which warmed into 
life the image of Pi^ometheus. It is this which 
causes the graces and the loves to take up 
their habitations in the hardest marble, to sub- 
sist in the emptiness of light and shadow on 
the pictured canvass, or in winged words to 
bound from soul to soul through congregated 
masses with the potency and impressiveness 
of omnipotence. 



JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 3^ 

The tears which an orator like Quincy com- 
pels his audience to shed, make friends and 
brothers of them all. 

" One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." 

Faith and feeling become strengthened by 
diffusion. Each individual feels himself stron- 
ger among so many kindred associates, and 
the minds of all flow together in one grand 
and irresistible stream. The auditor loves to 
yield himself up to the fascination of a rich 
mellow voice, a commanding attitude, and a 
brilliant physiognomy. He outruns the illu- 
sion. He is thrilled in every nerve, he is agi- 
tated with rapture or remorse, with indigna- 
tion or grief. He blends all his emotions with 
the speaker, and is subdued or inspired under 
his power. He soon becomes stripped of all 
defence, and willingly exposed to every blow, 
so that the greatest effects are produced by 
the slightest words adroitly directed and skill- 
fully expressed. 

Mr. Quincy died before our national tri- 
umph was won. But he saw its glories. He 
prophetically described them in language wor- 
thy of his august theme, and equalled only by 
the splendid reality when it came. 

" Spirits and genii like those who arose in 
Rome," said he, "will one day make glorious 
this more western world. America hath in 



32 JOHN HANCOCK. 

store her Bruti and Cassii, — her Hampdens 
and Sydneys; — patriots and heroes, who will 
form a hand of brothers : — men, who will have 
memories and feelings, com-age and swords ; 
— courage, that shall inflame their ardent 
bosoms, till their hands cleave to their swords, 
and their swords to their enemies' hearts." 
Let us proceed to consider more of these. 

JOHN HANCOCK 

Was born at Quincy, and was the son and 
grandson of eminent clergymen. He gradu- 
ated at Harvard, in 1754. He was a magnifi- 
cent liver, lavishingly bountiful when once 
enlisted, and splendidly hospitable to the 
friends of any cause he loved. Through the 
influence of his poor but devoted friend, 
Samuel Adams, he early became interested in 
colonial enfranchisement, and ultimately rose 
to a most conspicuous place among patriots.- 
He was the dignified cavalier of Aincrican 
liberty. In the proclamation issued by Gene- 
ral Gage, after the battle of Lexington, and a 
few days before that of Bunker Hill, oifering 
pardon to the rebels^ he and Samuel Adams 
were especially excepted, their offences being 
" of too flagitious a nature to admit of any 
other consideration than that of condign pun- 
ishment." 



JOHN HANCOCK. 33 

The talents of Hancock were useful, rather 
than brilliant. His personal dignity and great 
practical skill in business, rendered him a su- 
perior presiding officer in deliberative assem- 
blies. His voice was sonorous, his apprehen- 
sions were quick, and his knowledge of par- 
liamentary forms, combined with his well 
known devotion to the popular cause, rendered 
him the object of universal respect. 

When Washington consulted the legislature 
of Massachusetts upon the propriety of bom- 
barding Boston, Hancock advised its being- 
done immediately, if it would benefit the cause, 
although the most of his immense property 
consisted in houses and other real estate in 
that town. 

But Hancock was ready to sacrifice more 
than property, more than life even ; if neces- 
sary, he was willing to sacrifice his popularity 
in aid of the cause of national freedom. — 
Though in this matter he was a man of deeds 
more than words, yet he shunned not in the 
most public and forcible manner to express the 
most ardent and patriotic sentiments. 

In the very darkest hour of colonial despair, 
he came boldly forward in an exercise com- 
memorative of those who fell in the unhappy 
collision with British soldiers in State street, 
and in this " Oration on the Massacre," as it 



34 JOHN HANCOCK. 

was called, poured forth the following terrible 
denunciations : 

" Let this sad tale of death never be told 
without a tear; let not the heaving bosom 
cease to burn with a manly indignation at the 
relation of it, thi'ough the long tracts of future 
time ; let every parent tell the shameful story 
to his listening children, till tears of pity glisten 
in their e3'^es, or boiling passion shakes their 
tender frames. 

" Dark and designing knaves, murderers, 
parricides ! how dare you tread upon the earth 
which has drunk the blood of slaughtered in- 
nocence, shed by your hands? How dare you 
breathe that air which wafted to the ear of 
heaven the groans of those who fell a sacri- 
fice to your accursed ambition? But if the 
laboring earth does not expand her jaws — if 
the air you breathe is not commissioned to be 
the minister of death — yet, hear it, and trem- 
ble ! The eye of heaven penetrates the secret 
chambers of the soul ; and you, though screen- 
ed from human observation, must be arraigned 
— must lift your hands, red with the blood of 
those whose death you have procured, at the 
tremendous bar of God." 

In an oration delivered in Boston, on the 5th 
of March, 1774, Mr. Hancock concluded with 
the following excellent remarks : 



GEN. JOSEPH WARREN. 35 

" I have the most animating confidence, that 
the present noble struggle for liberty will ter- 
minate gloriously for America. And let us 
play the man for our God, and for the cities of 
our God ; while we are using the means in our 
power, let us humbly commit our righteous 
cause to the great Lord of the universe, who 
loveth righteousness and hateth iniquit}^ And 
having secured the approbation of our hearts, 
by a faithful and unwearied discharge of our 
duty to our country, let us joyfully leave our 
concerns in the hands of Him w^ho raiseth up 
and pulleth down the empires and kingdoms 
of the world." 

GEN. JOSEPH WARREN 

May be taken as a type of our martial elo- 
quence. His career M'as brief, auspicious in 
its dawn, diversified in its progress, but glori- 
ous in its termination and subsequent influence 
on the welfare of man. Born in Roxbury, 
Massachusetts, 1740, he graduated at Harvard, 
in 1759, soon after became distinguished among 
the first physicians of Boston, cast himself into 
the front ranks of the revolution, as major 
general of the American army, when but thirty- 
five years of age, and fell on Bunker Hill, the 
first victim of rank in the sublime struggle for 
national independence. 



36 GEN. JOSEPH WARREN. 

While yet a student in college, he bore the 
reputation of great talents, undaunted courage, 
and a generous but indomitable independence 
of spirit. His manly life did not belie the 
promise of his youth. His magnanimous spi- 
rit soon became tempered in the furnace of 
national suffering. His mental vision was 
therein clarified like a prophet's, and like one 
inspired he proclaimed the triumph for which 
he was ready to die. 

To his friend, Josiah Quincy, jr., then in 
London, advocating the claims of his country, 
he wrote the following memorable note, dated, 

" Boston, Nov. 21st, 1774. 
" It is the united voice of America to pre- 
serve their freedom, or lose their lives in 
defence of it. Their resolutions are not the 
effects of inconsiderate rashness, but the sound 
result of sober inquiry and deliberation. I am 
convinced that the true spirit of liberty was 
never so universally diffused through all ranks 
and orders of people, in any country on the 
face of the earth, as it now is through all North 
America." 

Warren was himself but a vivid reflection 
of the popular feeling and its strong expres- 
sion. The instincts of a true soul are sure; all 



GEN. JOSEPH WARREN. 37 

the strength and all the divinity of knowledge 
lie enwrapped in some of the soul's profoiinder 
feelings. 

Great national commotions, like the Amer- 
ican Revoltition, generally elicit martial orators, 
whose eloquence is like their profession, full 
of thrusts the most piercing, and of blows the 
most deadly. The son of Macedonia and 
pupil of Aristotle, captivated Greeks and Bar- 
barians as much by his eloquence as by his 
martial victories. Caesar commanded the Ro- 
man legions by the regal power of his speech. 
The great military eloquence of France was 
born amid the first shocks of tyranny and free- 
dom. Napoleon, by a sudden blow of martial 
fire, embodied in words that spoke like ex- 
ploding cannon, seized upon the old generals 
of the republic, upon the army and upon his 
nation, — the irresistible empire of victory and 
of genius. 

But Warren aspired only for personal rights 
and national independence. For this he plead 
and fought with all the power he possessed, 
body and soul. He felt the value of the boon, 
and put every thing except honor, in jeopard}- 
to attain it. To convince, one must be con- 
vinced; he must have something at stake, he 
must have character. 

As the storm thickened and ordinary souls 
4 



38 GEN. JOSEPH WARREN. 

quailed at its lowering aspect and rapid ap- 
proach, Warren stood unblenched. When the 
awful crisis actually had come, he coolly buck- 
led on his armor, and only as he snuffed the 
hot breath of battle, did he rise to the full 
height of his native grandeur. Then with 
bosom bared to the fiercest blows, and with 
heart throbbing high for his country's welfare, 
he rushed to the deadliest breach, diffusing ani- 
mation among friends and consternation to 
foes. It is easy to conceive him careering 
amid the carnage on Bunker's heights, like 
Homer's hero on the plains of Troy : 

" Fill'd with the god, enlarged his muscles grevv^, 
Through all his veins a sudden vigor flew, 
The blood in brisker tides began to roll. 
And Mars hintiself came rushing on his soul. 
Exhorting loud through all the field he strode. 
And look'd, and moved, Achilles, or a god." 

We gain a more distinct conception of the 
martial spirit of Warren, from the peculiar 
character of his eloquence yet extant. One 
extract will suffice. 

On March 6th, 1775, he delivered an oration 
commemorative of " the Boston Massacre." In 
that fearful scene an event occurred which it 
is necessary to mention in order to feel the 
force of Warren's skillful and terrific amplifi- 
cation. After Mr. Gray had been shot through 



GEN. JOSEPH WARREN. 39 

the body, and had fallen dead on the ground, 
a bayonet was pushed through his skull; part 
of the bone being broken, the brains fell out 
upon the pavement. The orator alludes to 
this act of needless barbarity in a manner 
worthy of Mark Anthony. 

"The many injuries offered to the town, I 
pass over in silence. I cannot now mark out 
the path which led to that unequalled scene 
of horror, the sad remembrance of which takes 
the full possession of my soul. The san- 
guinary theatre again opens itself to view. 
The baleful images of terror crowd around 
me; and discontented ghosts, with hollow 
groans, appear to solemnize the anniversary 
of the fifth of March. 

"Approach we then the melancholy walk 
of death. Hither let me call the gay compan- 
ion ; here let him drop a farewell tear upon 
that body which so late he saw vigorous and 
warm with social mirth; hither let me lead the 
tender mother to weep over her beloved son — 
come, widowed mourner, here satiate thy grief; 
behold thy murdered husband gasping on the 
ground, and to complete the pompous show of 
wretchedness, bring in each hand thy infant 
children to bewail their father's fate; — take 
heed, ye orphan babes, lest, while streaming 
eyes are fixed upon the ghastly corpse, your 



40 JOHN ADAMS. 

feet slide on the stones bespattered with your 
father's brains! Enough; this tragedy need 
not be heightened by an infant weltering in 
the blood of him that gav^ it birth. Nature 
reluctant, shrinks already from the view, and 
the chilled blood rolls slowly backward to its 
fountain. We wildly stare about, and with 
amazement ask, who spread this ruin round 
us ? What wretch has dared deface the image 
of God? Has haughty France, or cruel Spain, 
sent forth her myrmidons? Has the grim 
savage rushed again from the far distant wil- 
derness, or does some fiend, fierce from the 
depth of hell, with all the rancorous malice 
which the apostate damned can feel, twang 
her destructive bow, and hurl her deadly 
arrows at our breast? No, none of these — 
but, how astonishing ! it is the hand of Britain 
that inflicts the wound !" 

The master spirit next to pass in review, 
demands our profoundest homage. 

JOHN ADAMS 

Was born in Braintree, Mass., October 19, 
1735. He received his Bachelor's degree at .^ 
Cambridge, in 1755, and the degree of Master 
of Arts, in 1758. He early commenced the 
practice of law in his native town, now called 
Quincy, and afterwards removed to Boston; 



JOHN ADAMS. 41 

and, by the consecration of a protracted life 
and consummate talents to the welfare of his 
country, won a reputation as wide as the 
world. 

It is not our purpose to quote largely from 
the writings of Mr. Adams, but only to allude 
to certain sentiments, the better to present the 
distinctive character of his eloquence . In com- 
pany with Thomas Gushing, Samuel Adams, 
and Robert Treat Paine, John Adams was 
chosen by the colony of Massachusetts, to 
represent them in the first Continental Con- 
gress, which met at Philadelphia, 1774. His 
friend, Sewall, who had taken the ministerial 
side in politics, and was at that time attorney 
general of the province, hearing of his elec- 
tion, endeavored earnestly to dissuade him 
from his purpose of assuming the seat to 
which he had been appointed. He told him 
of the resolution of Great Britain to pursue her 
system with the greatest rigor; that her power 
was irresistible, and would involve him in 
destruction, as well as all bis associates. His 
response unfolds at once the dignity of his 
resolutions on contemplating this great and 
daring national movement. 

" I know that Great Britain has determined 
on her system, and that very determination 

determines me on mine. You know that I 

4* 



42 JOHN ADAMS. 

have been constant and uniform in opposition 
to her designs. Sink or swim, Hve or die, sm^- 
vive or perish with my comitry, is my fixed, 
mialterable determination." 

We ought to expect that eloquence the most 
exalted would spontaneous!}^ emanate from 
such a soul. The orator, grand by nature, 
like the eagle, hovers above the clouds in the 
pure region of principles; while the mere 
haranguer, the demagogue, ruled by time- 
serving expediency, like the swallow, skims 
earth and sea, garden and swamp, making a 
thousand erratic tm-ns, catching a few grovel- 
ing insects, and annoying the thoughtful trav- 
eler with its clattering wings. John Adams 
was the eagle of colonial and revolutionary 
eloquence in America, quick of eye and strong 
of wing, habitually calm in its grandeur, some- 
times passionate and rapid in his course be- 
yond all example. 

He was an admirable model of blended en- 
thusiasm and sobriety ; this constituted his indi- 
viduality as a popular orator, and his consum- 
mate excellence as a statesman. 

The marriage of the powerful Jupiter with 
the lovely Latona produced the graceful sym- 
metry of Apollo — the happy combination of 
beauty, precision, agility and strength — and 
these were the elements that composed the 



JOHN ADAMS. 43 

mental character of our great countryman. 
He resembled two of England's greatest foren- 
sic gladiators. Fox was a logician, lord Chat- 
ham an orator. John Adams combined in his 
eloquence much of the severe reason of the one, 
and the power of fascination so exuberant in 
the other. Arguments set forth by Fox were 
adapted to convince the reflecting; a speech 
from Chatham would impel all hearers imme- 
diately to action. John Adams was happily 
endowed to accomplish both results at the 
same time; his reasons for acting were as 
luminous as his appeals were exciting. Like 
the courser described by the classic poet : 

" His high mettle, under good control, 

Gave him Olympic speed, and shot him to the goal." 

To think deeply and feel strongly, at one 
and the same time — to blend thought and 
emotion in luminous expression, and to con- 
centrate both simultaneously on 'the audience 
in one blaze of argument and illustration — 
this is the means and guaranty of success, this 
is eloquence. 

Herein consisted John Adams' great excel- 
lence. His head was cool, but his heart was 
ardent — a volcano beneath summits of snow — 
he projected his argument frigidly, in premed- 
itated compactness, as if the fountain of emo- 
tion was entirely congealed in him; but when 
he arose in the eye of the nation, and began 



44 JOHN ADAxMS. 

to feel the importance of his theme, he became 
livid with the fires of patriotism, like the fren- 
zied Pythoness, and seized possession of the 
general mind, with the authority of a master 
and a king. He clothed the bony substance 
of his dialectics with the flesh and blood of his 
ardent and spontaneous rhetoric; he kindled 
the Continental Congress into a flame, because 
he was himself inflamed. He precipitated 
himself upon his hearers without wandering in 
extravagance, and commanded their feelings 
with his pathos, without ceasing to rule their 
judgments by the justness of his thought. 
Sometimes, indeed, he seemed to stagger un- 
der the weight and pungency of conceptions 
which language could not express. 

" Low'ring he stood, still in fierce act of speech, 
Yet speechless." 

His great talent lay in this : he intuitively 
saw to what point in the minds of his audience 
to apply his strength, and he sent it home 
there Avith the force of a giant. 

Mr. Jefferson has himself affirmed, " that the 
great pillar of support to the declaration of 
independence, and its ablest advocate and 
champion on the floor of the house, vv^as John 
Adams. He was the colossus of that con- 
gress; not always fluent in his public ad- 
dresses, he yet came out with a power, both 



JOHN ADAMS. 45 

of thought and expression, which moved hi? 
hearers from their seats." 

Let us look back a moment and consider 
liow the great orators of the Revokition were 
disciplined, and perfected for the sublime mis- 
sion they performed. They were highly edu- 
cated and classically refined; but their best 
weapons were forged in the presence of 
tyrants and desperate toils. Eloquence, to be 
affecting and grand, must have perils to brave, 
the unfortunate to defend, and daring honors 
to win. Great trials and fearful conflicts 
make great orators. The grammarians and 
the musicians, the men who cured stammer- 
ing, and taught their pupil to pronounce the 
letter R distinctly, aided the great Athenian 
much undoubtedly, but they created no nerve 
of his eloquence. Neither did his shaved head, 
his cave, his mouthful of pebbles, and his 
declamation by the sounding sea, inspire the 
imperial orator who fulmined over the world 
like a tropical storm. The mighty tempest of 
military force and political domination lower- 
ing on the hills of Macedon, and crashing on 
the plains of Choeronea — the fiery fm^nace of 
mental conflict, where the aspiring spirit is its 
own best instructor— the dread arena of phys- 
ical battle with adverse legions, and lofty 
mental strife with malignant foes leagued to 



46 JOHN ADAMS. 

impel a falling state to ruin, — this was the 
school where Demosthenes was trained, and 
these were the means by which his eloquence 
was won. 

And so of Cicero. Archias with his elegant 
learning, and Philo with his elaborate rheto- 
ric, — the groves of Athens with all their phi- 
losophy, and the school of the Rhodian Milo, 
with all its gymnastic development, — formed 
not the master orator, potent alike in the fas- 
tidious Senate, or amid the tumultuous masses 
of that gorgeous pandemonium of imperial 
Rome, — the Forum. But to be the sport of 
rival chiefs and remorseless factions, hailed 
with a torrent of acclamations at one moment, 
and at the next drowned in the execrations of 
armed throngs, — to fight his way from the ob- 
scurity of an humble plebeian to the highest 
pinnacle of fame, and thence to be rudely 
dragged down, to banishment, poverty, and 
popular odium by the traitorous Cataline and 
the accursed Clodius, — this was the source 
that inspired the Philippics, this was the school 
of Cicero's eloquence. 

The first indication of mental freedom at 
the beginning of the French revolution, and 
the most remarkable department of intellec- 
tual improvement, was eloquence. The sud- 
den expansion of senatorial oratory, at that 



JOHN ADAMS. 47 

period, was a sure prognostic of rising liberty. 
If a Barnave and his associates were virulent 
in their attacks, and excited the populace to 
frenzy by their stormy declamations, it was 
because the wrongs they suffered were exas- 
perating, and nothing but a tornado could 
clear their path. Mirabeau was roused by 
seventeen lettres cle cachet, directed against his 
own person; and under such motives to action 
he defended popular rights with an energy 
that crushed a throne. 

John Adams, in his day and for his country, 
was second to no man that ever lived. Within 
his simple exterior the divinity was concealed, 
not only latent, but effective at will. If he did 
not appear before the world with the insignia 
of Hercules, the shaggy lion's skin and the 
knotted club, he bore a full quiver and the sil- 
ver bow of the god of the sun, and every shaft 
he loosened from the string told with unerring 
aim at the heart of his monster-foe. 

Contemplate him as he appeared in the 
great debate on the adoption of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, standing, in that crisis 
of indescribable grandeur, like Moses on the 
mount, encompassed with thunders and light- 
nings, bearing the tables of the law in his 
arms, his brow encircled with a halo of fire, 
and his eye gleaming with a prophetic view 
of a mighty nation soon to emerge from thral- 



48 JOHN ADAMS. 

dom, and send generation after generation 
down through untold ages. 

It was on the evening of that day on which 
the sublimest victory was won that history can 
ever record, that this champion, yet agitated 
by the storm and covered with the foam and 
dust of battle, retired in triumph from the field 
and wrote that glorious letter to his distant wife, 
beginning with the memorable words — " The 
die is cast. We have passedthe Rubicon !" 

How characteristic of their author are these 
brief, but significant expressions ! When the 
mind is free and thought is fearless, eloquence 
speaks in condensed and pointed terms, like 
arrows which are most sure when they are 
least encumbered and most swiftly winged. 
When the soul is heroic and its conceptions 
fervid, its corruscations bear the brilliant po- 
tency of lightning, irresistible to earthly ob- 
structions, and terrible to guilt. 

Cotemporaries say that John Adams was 
peculiarly luminous in his demonstrations, — as 
if jets of light shot out from his eyes, his 
mouth, and his finger ends. He was not large 
in body, but his well-formed and expressive 
figure reflected all the passions of his soul. 
He was eloquent all over. He w^as a mental 
gladiator, a man of forensic war, and never 
was he more beautiful than when surrounded 
by the hottest flames of the fight. 



SECOND ORATION 



If there be one attribute of man, supreme in 
dignity and worth, it is that of oratory. The 
illusions of the eye, combined with the en- 
chanting power of music, constitute an influ- 
ence less potent upon the imagination and 
will, than the spirit-stirring appeals of " elo- 
quence divine." Other charms are mostly 
drawn from the external world, but this ema- 
nates from the unseen spirit within ; its splen- 
dors gleam through animated clay, and pro- 
claim the superior majesty of immortal mind. 

When men are exhilarated in the presence 
of excellence, when they are greatly moved 
by the power of cultivated speech, the imagi- 
nation is more susceptible of receiving agree- 
able impressions, and the mind becomes in- 
sensibly imbued with the worth it in rapture 
admires. When the heart and fancy Bre thus 
taken captive by those sentiments which are 
addressed to our sensibilities, the better to 
move our reason, the severe rules which we 
impose on the frigid logician, become gene- 
rously expanded. The orator feels no longer 



50 REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. 

wounded by hyper-critical restraints ; more 
latitude is granted for the expansion of his 
genius, and in the moment of fortunate daring, 
he creates happy emotions in others, and fore- 
tokens fame for himself. 

The era in our history, now under consider- 
ation, was exceedingly favorable for the cul- 
tivation of the most exalted order of elo- 
quence. It was a period when the public, 
mind was strongly agitated by the popular 
discussion of interests, the most comprehensive 
and enduring. 

The war of 1776 was the Trojan war of 
America; it diffused one impulse over our 
whole domain, united the colonies in one 
spirit of resistance against oppression, and 
bound them together in one national bond. 
Moreover, it had the effect of the Persian war, 
when Miltiades led the flower of Greece to 
Marathon, and a young but vigorous nation 
could successfully compete with superior num- 
bers and veteran skill. The different sections 
of the country vied with each other in gener- 
ous competition for precedence in facing a 
common foe, feeling that stern conflicts and a 
glorious triumph were necessary to give them 
all a consciousness of their real strength. 

The period of our colonial and revolutionary 
history was in fact an era of great superiority 



REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. 51 

in eloquence, at home and abroad. England 
then presented an array of orators such as she 
has known at no other time. In Westminster 
Hall, the accomplished Mansfield was con- 
stantly heard in support of kingly power, 
while the philosophic and argumentative 
Camden exercised his mighty intellect in de- 
fence of popular rights. Burke had awoke 
with all his wealth of fancy, daring imagina- 
tion and comprehensive learning. Fox had 
entered the arena of forensic and senatorial 
gladiatorship, with his great, glowing heart 
and titanic passions, all kindled into volcanic 
heat. Junius, by his sarcasm and audacity, 
stung the loftiest circles into desperation. 
Erskine embellished the darkened heavens by 
the rainbow tints of his genius ; and Chatham, 
worthily succeeded by his " cloud-compelling'' 
son, ruled the billowy sea of excited mind 
with, the majesty of a god. 

Against all that is powerful in mental en- 
ergy and martial force, our fathers had to give 
battle und.fer the most fearful odds. The chiv- 
alrous antagonists came into open field ; em- 
pires were at stake, and the struggle was 
worthy of the prize, as the result was glorious 
to those whom we delight to commemorate. 

Eloquence in America then was a system of 
the most invigorating mental gymnastics. The 



52 PATRICK HENRY. 

popular orators hurled accusations and argu- 
ments into the bosom of the populace, and 
roused universal rebellion against regal 
wrongs. Prominent among the mightiest of 
" the rebels," stood 

PATRICK HENRY. 

He was born in Hanover county, Virginia, 
May 29th, 1736. His violin, his flute, a few 
favorite books, habitual and critical study of 
human nature, frequent ramblings in the wild 
woods, and profound meditations by flowing- 
streams, occupied the diversified years of his 
youth. The only science he loved was math- 
ematics, and the book he most read, among 
uninspired authors, was a translation of " the 
pictured Livy." " Much, but not many," was 
a rule with him. The books he did peruse, 
he digested thoroughly; but he was not a 
thing made up of fragments, — he was himself, 
a man self-developed,~-he thought more than 
he read. 

After a six weeks prepai-ation, he obtained 
a license to practice the law, being then twen- 
ty-four years of age, and almost entirely igno- 
rant of the simplest forms of the profession he 
had embraced. 

For some time he was entirely unnoticed, 
but in his famous speech in the jparsoii's cause^ 



PATRICK HENRY. 53 

he at length began to engross public atten- 
tion. As counsel for Mr. Dandridge, in a con- 
tested election, he made a brilliant harangue 
on the rights of suffrage. Such a burst of el- 
oquence from so plain and humble a man, 
struck the popular mind with amazement, and 
at once made the speaker an; object of univer- 
sal respect. 

In the common acceptation of thjg word, Mr. 
Henry was not educated ; like the great Eng- 
lish author, he " Imew little Latin and less 
Greek." But in the best sense of the term, he 
was superlatively educated for the mission he 
fulfilled. 

The ethereal splendors which burned through 
his words, were not elaborated, spark by 
spark, in the laboratory of pedantic cloisters. 
It was in the open fields, under the wide cope 
of heaven, full of free, healthful and livid at- 
mosphere, this oratorical Franklin caught his 
lightnings from gathering storms as they passed 
over him ; and he communicated his charged 
soul with electrical- swiftness and effect. He 
was the incarnation of revolutionary zeal. He 
had absorbed into his susceptible nature, the 
mighty inspiration which breathed through- 
out the newly awakened and arousing world. 
He tempered and retempered his soul in boil- 
ing premeditations against tyranny, as the 
5* 



54 PATRICK HENRY. 

cutler tempers a sword by plunging it into wa- 
ter while yet red hot from the furnace. 

The orator of strong powers will be more 
intent on strildng with force than with ele- 
gance ; wholly absorbed in his great purpose, 
he will not stop to polisli a phrase, when he 
should compel his antagonist to fall. He will 
make his dirk keen rather than glittering. 

Education among the best Greeks was not 
effeminate. Themistocles says of himself, that 
he had learned neither to tune the harp nor 
handle the lyre, but that he knew how to 
make a small and inglorious city both power- 
ful and illustrious. He could not sleep for the 
trophies of Miltiades. In his boyhood he 
shunned puerile sports, and spent his time in 
severe self-discipline. Having been a poor 
and disinherited child, he achieved the highest 
honors in Athens, and for a season controlled 
the civilized world. — Henry Vvas a delegate in 
the first Congress assembled at Philadelphia; 
he collected the first corps of volunteers in the 
south after the battles of Lexington and Con- 
cord, and was first Governor of his native 
Commonwealth, which, by repeated re-elec- 
tions he continued to rule until 1779. 

In his habits of living he was remarkably 
temperate and frugal. He seldom drank any 
thing but water, and furnished his table in the 



PATRICK HENRY. 55 

most simple manner. His morals were strict; 
and, especially in his matm^e life, as a Chris- 
tian he was very decided. 

His personal appearance was exceedingly 
striking. He was nearly six feet high ; 
spare and raw-boned, with a slight stoop of 
his shoulders. His complexion was dark and 
sallow ; his natm^al expression grave, thought- 
ful and penetrating. He was gifted with a 
strong and musical voice ; and, when anima- 
ted, spoke with the greatest variety of man- 
ner and tone. He could be vehement, insinu- 
ating, humorous, and sarcastic by turns, and to 
every sort of style he gave the highest eiFect. 
He was an orator by nature, and of the high- 
est class, combining all those traits of figure 
and intellect, action and utterance which have 
indissolubly linked his brilliant name with the 
history of his country's emancipation. 

After his death, thers was found among his 
papers one sealed, and endorsed as follows, in 
his own hand-writing : " The within resolu- 
tions passed the house of burgesses in May, 
1765. They formed the first opposition to the 
Stamp Act, and the scheme of taxing America 
by the British Parliament. All the colonies, 
either through fear, or want of opportunity to 
form* an opposition, or from influence of some 
kind or other, had remained silent. I had 



56 PATRICK HENRY. 

been for the first time elected a burgess a few 
days before, was young, inexperienced, unac- 
quainted with the forms of the house, and the 
members that composed it. Finding the men 
of weight opposed to the opposition, and the 
commencement of the tax at hand, and that 
no person was likely to step forth, I deter- 
mined to venture, and alone, unadvised, and 
unassisted, on a blank leaf of an old law book, 
WTote the within. Upon, offering them to the 
House, violent debates ensued. Many threats 
were uttered, and much abuse cast on me b}" 
the party for submission. After a long and 
warm contest, the resolutions passed by a 
very small majority, perhaps of one or two 
only. The alarm spread throughout America 
with astonishing quickness, and the ministe- 
rial party were overwhelmed. The great 
point of resistance to British taxation was uni- 
versally established in the colonies. This 
brought on the war, which finoily separated 
the two countries, and gaA^e independence to 
ours. Whether this will prove a blessing or a 
curse, will depend upon the use our people 
make of the blessings which a gracious God 
hath bestowed on us. If they ai'e v/ise, they 
will be great and happy. If they are of a 
contrary character, they will be miserable. 
Righteausness alone can exalt tliem as a na- 



PATRICK HENRY. 57 

tion. Reader, whoever thou art, remember 
this; and in thy sphere, practise virtue thj'self, 
and encouretge it in others. 

P. HENRY." 

The speech made by James Otis against 
"Writs of Assistance," we have seen, made 
John Adams the orator. The eloquence of 
Patrick Henry, in the colonial Assembly at 
Williamsburg, May, 1765, created another 
college student, Thomas Jefferson, the patriot. 

This magnificent child of nature had just 
appeared in public with his famous resolu- 
tions against the stamp act, referred to in his 
own record just quoted. The opposition to 
the last resolution in particular was extreme- 
ly vehement ; the debate upon it, to use Jef- 
ferson's strong language, was "most bloody," 
but torrents of indomitable eloquence from 
Henry, prevailed, and the resolutions were 
carried. 

Henry was as remarkable for his power of 
self-control as for his habitual impetuosity. 
Like as a courser of high mettle and pure 
blood suddenly reined in, stands on his 
haunches with every nerve trembling, so he 
could arrest the impetuous course of his elo- 
quence, and turn in a moment to reply to any 
pertinent or impertinent interruption. The 



58 PATRICK HENRY. 

debate in question presents a striking in- 
stance. 

" I well remember," says Mr. Jefferson, "the 
cry of ' treason,' by the speaker, echoed from 
every part of the House, against Mr. Henry. 
I well remember his pause, and the admirable 
address with which he recovered himself, and 
baffled the charge thus vociferated." The al- 
lusion here is to that memorable exclamation 
of Mr. Henry : " Caesar had his Brutus, Charles 
the First his Cromwell, and George the Third, 
— "Treason!" cried the speaker, "treason! 
treason !" echoed the House — " may profit by 
the example^" promptly replied the orator, " if 
this be treason, m.ake the m_ost of it." 

Jefferson was present during the whole of 
the occasion alluded to above. He was then 
but a youth, and stood in the door of commu- 
nication between the House and the lobby, 
where he says he heard the whole of this vio- 
lent debate. Like the boy, John Adams, he 
thenceforth consecrated himself to the service 
of his country. 

Scipio Africanus, while yet in his early 
youth, stood one day on a hill near Carthage, 
and looked down on a terrific battle-field 
where those veteran generals, Massanissa and 
Hamilcar crashed through opposing legions in 
the tug of war. This chance view gave direc^ 



PATRICK HENRY. 59 

tion to his life. But Adams and Jefferson, in 
the presence of Otis and Henry, were inspired 
with loftier impulses and for nobler ends. 

The Virginia orator never worried his prey 
by darting on him javelins from afar; he ad- 
vanced directly up with raised sledge and 
smote his victim between his two horns with 
a blow that felled him at once. There are 
two kinds of eloquence. The highest order 
flows directly from the soul, as from a peren- 
nial and prolific fountain. Its current is in- 
cessant and irresistible ; if arrested a moment, 
it accumulates its own chafing mass and will 
inevitably crush the obstacles by which it is 
opposed. The other multiplies its delicate 
threads around its object, betraying him into 
the meshes of a skilful net, by the fascination 
of a look, in the mean time strengthening ev- 
ery tiny bond until the victim is secured and 
tortured to death by a thousand malignant 
stings. 

Henry's mind was not disciplined into sym- 
metry by severe science, nor was it embellish- 
ed with the decorations of classical learning ; 
but massy fragments of original thought fre- 
quently appear in the progress of his speech, 
like shattered colonnades and broken statues, 
hurled from pedestal and base buried in com- 
mon dust. He was richly endowed with that 



00 PATRICK HENRY. 

permeating imagination which gives vitality 
to the body of thought, and which makes the 
fortune of every great master in the divine art 
of eloquence. He was imbued with that vehe- 
mence of conviction, that oratorical action, 
which modulates the tones and tinges the vis- 
age with irresistible power, and suggests to 
the rapt listener more than articulated lan- 
guage can express. His soul melted, and 
there were tears in his voice that no heart 
could withstand. His argument grew lumi- 
nous as it rose, like a majestic tree on fire, and 
its combustion shone with a splendor inextin- 
guishable and unexcelled. 

The insipid prettiness of rhetorical mechan- 
ism no more resembles the soul of true elo- 
quence, than the unconscious quiverings of 
galvanized muscles resemble the spontaneous 
throbs of a living and impassioned heart. 
Samson chose an uncouth weapon, but three 
hundred Philistines felt its force. 

It is necessary to bring into bold relief the 
natural grandeur of things by simplicity of ex- 
pression. The orator must be familiar with- 
out vulgarity, original without eccentricity, 
natural, and yet highly artistic, — in apparent 
carelessness " snatching a grace beyond the 
reach of art,"— fluent in language, but elabo- 
rate in thought, speaking at once to the in- 



PATRICK HENRY. 61 

stincts that are most profound, as well as those 
that are most superficial. Ordinarily, Henry's 
style was the natural current of his thought 
and glided along in limj)id, glowing abun- 
dance, as if it reflected the still beams of the 
sun. But when some exciting crisis occurred, 
his speech became impetuous and rugged with 
sythes and daggers, like a Saxon w^ar-chariot; 
then his livid bolts shot off in every direction 
with the concussion of lightnings which in the 
same instant shine and kill. He drew the 
great masses of mankind closely around him 
by the exaltation of his sentiments ; he held 
them still more enthralled by the simplicity of 
his language. 

The April shower is grateful to the soft 
herbage, and the still snow falls gracefully to 
earth, but neither of these produce strong im- 
pressions on the beholder. On the contrary, 
when ragged clouds, fringed with electric fires 
and bufietted by terrific winds, pour down 
piercing hail and torrent rain, intermingled 
with thunders that shake the skies and astound 
the earth, then do men tremble unbidden in 
the presence of natural sublimity. 

Tradition and history speak in rapturous 
terms of Patrick Henry's eloquence, and some 
of his speeches reported by cotemporaries sub- 
stantiate his fame. But as well might one at- 

r> 



02 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 

tempt to paint lightning with charcoal, as to 
delineate a soul like his, in dull words. In 
order properly to appreciate his power, we 

" Should have seen him in the Campus Marcius, — 

In the tribunal, — shaking all the tribes 

With mighty speech. His words seemed oracles, 

That pierced their bosoms ; and each man would turn, 

And gaze in wonder on his neighbor's face, 

That with the like dumb wonder answer'd him : 

Then some would weep, some shout, some, deeper touch'd. 

Keep down the cry with motion of their hands, 

In fear but to have lost a syllable." 

We should have seen him when he knew 
that he spoke under the shadow of the scaf- 
fold, — when British cannon were booming at 
the north, and, standing in the outlawed as- 
sembly of Virginia, like a lion at bay, he 
caught the first cry of distress from Lexington 
and Bunker Hill, — with a generous devo- 
tion that made no reserve and knew no fear, 
— with a voice solemn, tremulous with patri- 
otic rage, and swelling over the thrilled audi- 
ence like a trumpet-call to arms, and with an 
eye flashing unutterable fire, he exclaimed — 
•' Give me liberty, or give me death !" 

RICHARD HENRY LEE 

Was a dignified statesman, whose profound 
erudition and captivating rhetoric were ren- 
dered very efficient in moulding the early in- 



RICHARD HENRY LEE. 63 

stitutions of our land. He was born Jan. 20, 
1732, in Westmoreland county, Virginia, and 
received the most of his classical education in 
Yorkshire, England. He returned to his na- 
tive land when about twenty years of age, 
and, as he possessed a large fortune, his time 
was mainly devoted to the improvement of his 
mind. 

Mr. Lee was a polished gentleman. His 
mental accomplishments w^ere richly diversi- 
fied, and his manners were of courtly ele- 
gance. He had more talent than genius., 
In the pompous regularity of insipid elegance 
and punctilious mediocrity, orators elaborated 
in the schools are more distinguished for the 
fewness of their faults, than the multitude and 
originality of their beauties. No enthusiasm, 
no blaze of imagination, no crashing argu- 
ments irradiate their speeches with flashing- 
splendors. 

Lee's eloquence was like a beautiful river, 
meandering through variegated and elegant 
scenes, but which never inundates its banks nor 
bursts its barriers. He was not, like Patrick 
Henry, a mountain torrent, springing frOm ex- 
alted sources, and dashing away every thing 
in its irresistible career. 

But Lee was a fine rhetorician and a saga- 
cious debater. He had the happy faculty of 



64 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 

throwing oil on the agitated sea. When the 
continental Congress met in Philadelphia on 
the 5th of September, 1774, it is said that 
silence, awful and protracted, preceded " the 
breaking of the last seal," and that astonish- 
ment and applause filled the house when this 
was done by Patrick Henry. The excitement 
consequent on that wonderful elTort might 
have subsided into lassitude and despondency, 
had not Mr. Lee perceived " the quiver on 
every lip, the gleam in every eye." With the 
quickness of intuition he saw the crisis and 
happily attempted to turn the mass of agita- 
ted feeling to great practical good. He arose, 
and the sweetness of his language, and har- 
mony of his tones, soothed, but did not sup- 
press the tide of tumultuous emotion swelling 
in every breast. With the most persuasive 
eloquence, he demonstrated that there was 
but one hope for the country, and that lay in 
the energy of immediate and united resistance. 

Mr. Lee was undoubtedly a copious and 
eloquent speaker. Some of his admirers call- 
ed him '' the American Cicero," but, unfortu- 
nately, none of his popular speeches extant, 
justify this comparison. 

He was the author of many important state 
papers. The great motion of June 7, 1776, 
" that these united colonies ai'e, and of right 



RICHARD HENRY LEE. 65 

ought to be, free and independent states ; that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
British crown ; and that all political connexion 
between them and the state of Great Britain, 
is, and ought to be totally dissolved," was 
drawn, introduced, and ably supported by Mr. 
Lee. 

As chairman of the committee appointed 
for that purpose, it was also his privilege to 
furnish the commission and instructions which 
invested George Washington with the com- 
mand of the American army. 

The Address which, by the direction of Con- 
gress, Mr. Lee drew up in 1775, on behalf of 
the twelve United Colonies, to the inhabitants 
of Great Britain, is a masterly production, and 
will continue to the end of time an imperisha- 
ble monument to his patriotism and eloquence. 

Having enumerated the wrongs endured by 
the colonies, and defended the measures of re- 
sistance by them employed, the Address closes 
with the following solemn adjuration : 

" If you have no regard to the connection 
that has for ages subsisted between us; if you 
have forgot the wounds we have received 
fighting by your side for the extension of the 
empire ; if our commerce is not an object be- 
low your consideration; if justice and human- 
ity have lost their influence on vour hearts ; 
6* 



66 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 

still, motives are not wanting to excite your 
indignation at the measures now pursued: 
your wealth, your honor, your liberty are at 
stake. 

" Notwithstanding the distress to which we 
are reduced, we sometimes forget our own 
afflictions, to anticipate and sympathise in 
yours. We grieve that rash and inconsiderate 
councils should precipitate the destruction of 
an empire, which has been the envy and ad- 
miration of ages ; and call God to witness ! 
that we would part with our property, endan- 
ger our lives, and sacrifice every thing but 
liberty, to redeem you from ruin. 

"A cloud hangs over your heads and ours; 
ere this reaches you, it may probably burst 
upon us ; let us entreat heaven to avert our 
ruin, and the destruction that threatens our 
friends, brethren and countrymen, on the other 
side of the Atlantic !" 

Before proceeding to the analytical consid- 
eration of the next secular orator, we will 
glance a moment at the patriotic character of 
the divines of different persuasions during the 
colonial and revolutionary period of our his- 
tory. 

The grand struggle then going on in view 
of the whole worlds had a stimulating effect 
on all heroical spirits, though not directly en- 



PRESIDENT STILES. ^7 

gaged in the strife; — the same effect which 
Homer tells us the fight of the Greeks and 
Trojans before the fleet, had on Achilles; 
who, though he had resolved not to mingle in 
the shock of arms, yet found a martial warmth 
to steal upon him at the sight of blows, the 
sound of trumpets, and the cries of fighting 
men. 

A distinguished civilian, after listening to 
a most striking prayer from the late Dr. Buck- 
minster, of Portsmouth, N. H., on an occasion 
of great national interest, remarked, on leav- 
ing the house, that the Dr. deserved no credit 
for that prayer, for it Avas the effect of imme- 
diate inspiration. Such an afflatus seems not 
to have been uncommon with early preachers 
in America. 

PRESIDENT STILES, 

Of Yale College, with his puny body and large 
soul, preached a discourse on the occasion of 
the death of George 11. and the accession of 
George III. in which he admonished the latter 
against suffering any retrenchment of the lib- 
erties of New England. In his history of the 
three Judges of Charles I. published long be- 
fore our Revolution, he announced that the 
30th of January, which was observed by many 
Christians, in commemoration of the martyr- 



gS SAMUEL DAVIES. 

dom of that king " ought to be celebrated as 
an anniversary thanksgiving, that one nation 
on earth had so much fortitude and public jus- 
tice, as to make a royal tyrant bow to the sov- 
ereignty of the people P 

SAMUEL DAVIES, 

Born in Delaware, was the ablest Dissenter in 
the southern provinces. On receiving the 
news of Braddock's Defeat, near Fort Da 
Quesne, he preached a sermon, in which the 
following remarkable prophecy occurs, with 
relation to the youthful subaltern by whose 
valor and skill the remnant- of Braddock's 
army was saved : " I may j)oint out to the 
public," said this eloquent and patriotic divine, 
'• that heroic youth. Colonel George Washing- 
ton, whom I cannot but hope Providence has 
hitherto preserved in so signal a manner, for 
,some important service to his country.''^ 

At the opening of the first Congress in Phil- 
adelphia, on motion of Samuel Adams, Mr. 
Duche was invited to perform appropriate re- 
ligious service. He appeared and recited sev- 
eral pra-yers, in the established form, and then 
read the collect for the seventh day of Septem- 
ber, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. " You 
must remember," says John Adams, in a letter 
to his wife, from which I am quoting, " this 



SAMUEL DA VIES. 69 

was the next morning after we heard the hor- 
rible rumor of the cannonade of Boston. 1 
never saw a greater effect upon an audience. 
It seemed as if Heaven had ordained that 
Psalm to be read on that morning. 

" After this, Mr. Duche, unexpectedly to 
every body, struck out into an extemporary 
prayer, which filled the bosom of every man 
present. I must confess I never heard a bet- 
ter prayer, or one so well pronounced. Epis- 
copalian as he is. Dr. Cooper himself never 
prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such 
earnestness and pathos, and in language so 
elegant and sublime, for America, for Con- 
gress, for the. province of Massachusetts Bay, 
and especially th@ town of Boston. It had an 
excellent effect on everybody here. I must 
beg you to read that Psalm. If there was any 
faith in the sortes VirgiliancB, or so)^tes HomericcB, 
or especially the sortes Biblicce, it would be 
thought providential." 

These letters of John Adams to his wife, 
abound with intimations of the patriotism of 
the pulpit in those days. In one dated '' 7 July, 
1775," he enquires: 

'' Does Mr. Wibird preach against oppres- 
sion and the other cardinal vices of the times? 
Tell him, the clergy here, of every denomina- 
tion, thunder and lighten every Sabbath. They 



70 SAMUEL DAVIES. 

pray for Boston and the Massachusetts. They 
thank God explicitly and fervently for our re= 
markable successes. They pray for the Amer= 
ican army. They seem to feel as if they were 
among you." 

Again he writes — 

" Philadelphia, 4 Aug. 1T76. 

" Went this morning to the Baptist meeting, 
in hopes of hearing Mr. Stillman, but was dis- 
appointed. He was there, but another gen- 
tleman preached." 

This refers to the distinguished Dr. JStill- 
man, who, among courteous gentlemen, re- 
fined scholars, and eloquent divines, perhaps 
stood second to none of any section or name. 
"When the British took possession of Boston, 
and desecrated its sacred edifices, some of the 
more skillful of their officers who had recoiled 
under Stiilman's patriotic preaching, illustra- 
ted their spite by drawing a charcoal outline 
of the great divine on the plastered wall of 
his own pulpit, in all the freedom of expres- 
sive gesture and eloquent denunciation. Doc- 
tor Stillman was pastor of the First Baptist 
Church in the metropolis of New England, a 
church which, amid all surrounding vicissi- 



ARCHBISHOP CARROLL— HAMILTON. 71 

tudes, has never ceased to maintain intelli- 
gence, patriotism, and sound piety in both 
pulpit and pew. 

ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 

Was a devoted patriot and eloquent preacher. 
He was appointed Vicar General in 1786, and 
in 1789 was made Catholic Bishop of the Uni- 
ted States. On the 22d of Feb. 1800, by a 
solemn and admirable discourse, he commem- 
orated the character and services of General 
Washington, who had died but a few months 
before. It has been said by those who heard 
it, that when he recited the terrors, the en- 
couragements, the distresses, and the glories 
of the struggle for Independence, he appeared 
to be laboring under intense emotions corres- 
pondent to those topics — to be swayed like the 
aged minstrel of the poet, with contagious in- 
fluences, by the varied strain which he uttered. 
Happy for our country will it be, if all our 
divines shall remain as loyal as these. 

ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

Possessed many valuable traits of character, 
happily combined and rendered very useful to 
his adopted country and the world. 

He was born, 1757, in Nevis, the most beau- 
tiful of the West India Islands. His father, 



72 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

who was an Englishman, died at an early age. 
His mother, a native of Nevis, soon after she 
became a widow emigrated to New York, 
where her son, then sixteen years old, became 
a member of Columbia College. JSlot a year 
had passed before he gave splendid indica- 
tions of his extraordinary abilities. 

When the country was compelled to plunge 
into war, young Hamilton abandoned aca- 
demic retirement, and entered the army as 
captain of artillery. He soon attracted the 
admiration of the Commander-in-chief, who 
appointed him his Aid-de-camp, with the rank 
of Colonel. This occurred in 1777, when 
Hamilton was but twenty years old. From 
this time, he continued the inseparable com- 
panion of Washington, during the war, and 
w^as always consulted by him and by all the 
chief public functionaries, on the most impor- 
tant occasions. He acted as his first aid-de- 
camp at the battles of Brandywine, German- 
town, and Monmouth; and at his own request, 
at the siege of Yorktown, he led the detach- 
ment that carried by assault one of the ene- 
my's strongest outworks. 

After the war, Colonel Hamilton commen- 
ced the study of the law. He was soon admit- 
ted to the bar, and rose rapidly in professional 
and political life. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 73 

It will be well to trace rapidly the growth 
of this master-mind. While yet a youthful 
collegian, by his extraordinary writings and 
patriotic influence, he won the appellation of 
the " Vindicator of Congress." The letter that 
announced the battle of Lexington to the New 
Yorkers, concluded with these words: "the 
crimson fountain has opened, and God only 
knows when it will be closed." Young Ham- 
ilton immediately organized a military corps, 
mostly of fellow students. They practised 
theu' daily drill in the church-yard of St. 
George's Chapel, early in the morning, before 
the commencement of their college duties. 
They assumed the name of " Hearts of Oak," 
and wore a green uniform surmounted by a, 
leathern cap on which was inscribed " Free- 
dom or Death." 

Hamilton's first political speech to a popu- 
lar assembly, was delivered at " the great 
meeting in the fields," as it was called, held in 
New York, July 6th, 1774, and which was oc- 
casioned by the destruction of tea in Boston 
harbor. At that time he was a student in 
what was then called King's College, now 
known by the name of Columbia. His effort 
was unpremeditated, and at first he hesitated 
and faltered, being overawed by the impres- 
sive scene before him ; but his youthful coun- 
7 



74 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

tenance, his slender form, and novel appear- 
ance awakened curiosity and excited univer- 
sal attention. After a discussion, clear, forci- 
ble, and striking, of the great principles in- 
volved, he depicted, in glowing colors, the long 
continued and constantly aggravated oppres- 
sions of the mother country. "The sacred 
rights of mankind," exclaimed he, " are not to 
be rummaged for among old parchments, or 
musty records; they are written, as with a 
sunbeam, in the whole volume of human na- 
ture, by the hand of Divinity itself, and can 
never be erased or obscured by mortal power." 
He insisted on the duty of resistance, pointed 
out the means and certainty of success, and 
described the waves of rebellion sparkling 
with fire, and washing back on the shores of 
England the wrecks of her power, her wealth, 
and her glory. Under this spontaneous burst 
of mature eloquence from youthful lips, the 
immense multitude first sank in awe and as- 
tonishment, and then rose with irrepressible 
enthusiasm. 

"Down sunk 
Instant all tumult, broke abruptly off 
Fierce voice and clash of arms ; so mute and deep 
Settled the silence, the low sound was heard 
Of distant waterfall, and the acorn drop 
From the green arch above." 

The death-like silence ceased as he closed, 
and repeated huzzas resounded to the heavens. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 75 

Hamilton seems to have been ever the ob- 
ject of passionate admiration to those who 
knew him well. A senior officer in Washing- 
ton's staff conferred on him the epithet of 
" The little Lion," a term of endearment by 
which he was familiarly known among his 
bosom friends to the close of his life . 

Hamilton, like Burke, was the great master 
of the human heart. Deeply versed in its 
feelings and motives, he " struck by a word, 
and it quivered beneath the blow; flashed the 
lightning glance of burning, thrilling, animated 
eloquence" — and its hopes and its fears were 
moulded to his wish. He was the vivid im- 
personation of political sagacity. His imagi- 
nation and practical judgment, like two fleet 
ooursers, ran neck and neck to the very goal 
of triumph. Military eloquence of the highest 
grade had its birth with liberty in the Ameri- 
can revolution. But the majority of our heroes 
were not adepts in literature. They could 
conquer tyrants more skilfully than they could 
harangue them. To this rule, however, 
Hamilton was a distinguished exception. He 
was the most sagacious and laborious of our 
revolutionary orators. He anticipated time, 
and interrogated history with equal ease and 
ardor. He explored the archives of his o\\'Ti 
land, and drew from foreign courts the quin- 



76 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

tessence of their ministerial wisdom. He 
illuminated the comicils where Washington 
presided, and with him guarded our youthful 
nation with the eyes of a lynx and the talons 
of a vulture. 

But we should give especial attention to 
Hamilton as a writer. Through the pen he 
WTought more extensively on the popular 
mind, perhaps, than by all the impressiveness 
of his living eloquence. He well understood 
the utility of this mighty engine for weal or 
woe. The ancient orators and Avriters, slowly 
transcribing their words on parchment, breath- 
ed in their little pipes a melody for narrow cir- 
cles ; but fame gives modern thought the mag- 
nificent trumpet of the press, whose perpetual 
voice speaks simultaneously to delighted mil- 
lions at remote points. 

It is of vast advantage to a nation, that men 
of the most elevated positions in civil affairs 
should take a part in its literature, and thus, 
with their pen, as w^ell as by their patronage, 
foster its development and perfection. iEschy- 
lus, the oldest of the great tragedians of 
Greece, was himself a soldier, and fought with 
heroism in many of the glorious battles of his 
country — one of which furnished the theme of 
his most celebrated work. Herodotus was 
born only a few years before the great con- 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 77 

flict with Xerxes ; and Zenophon participa- 
ted prominently in the remarkable military 
achievements he has commemorated. The 
best writers and most efficient statesmen in 
every land are developed and polished by the 
rough conflicts of practical life. Such was 
Alexander Hamilton. He was the indefatiga- 
ble soldier of the press, the pen, and the army ; 
in each field he carried a sword which, like the 
one borne by the angel at the gate of Paradise, 
flashed its guardian care on every hand. In 
martial affairs he was an adept, in literary 
excellence he was unexcelled, and in political 
discernment he was universally acknowledged 
to be superior among the great. We read his 
WTitings with ever increasing zest, fascinated 
by the seductive charms of his style, and im- 
pelled by the opening splendors of his far- 
reaching and comprehensive thoughts. They 
accumulate with a beautiful symmetry, and 
emanate legitimately from his theme. They 
expand and grow, as an acorn rises into an 
oak, of which all the branches shoot out of the 
same trunk, nourished in every part by the 
same sap, and form a perfect unit, amid all 
the diversified tints of the foUage and the in- 
finite complexity of the boughs. 

" The pen of our country," says Troup, 
"was held by Hamilton; and for dignity of 
•7* 



78 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

manner, pith of matter, and elegance of style, 
General Washington's letters are unrivalled in 
military annals." The public documents drawn 
up by this Secretary, as well as those by his 
predecessors, richly deserve the encomium 
pronounced on them by Lord Chatham, in the 
House of Lords. "When you consider their 
decency, firmness, and wisdom," said he, "you 
cannot but respect their cause, and wish to 
make it your own. For myself, I must declare 
and avow, that in all my reading, and it has 
been my favorite pursuit, that for solidity of 
reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of 
conclusion, under all the circumstances, no 
nation or body of men can stand in preference 
to the general congress at Philadelphia." 

But after all that may be justly said in 
praise of Hamilton as a popular orator, he- 
roical soldier, and polished writer, the most 
substantial service conferred on the country in 
the exercise of his diversified and transcendent 
talents, was performed by him under the most 
trying circumstances as the national financier. 
As Secretary of the Treasury, he was the cre- 
ative spirit that ruled the tempest, and reduced 
chaos to form. 

" Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar 
Stood ruled." 

His integrity was never suspected, his moral 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 79 

worth was of an exalted character, and his 
varied services in behalf of his country and 
the human race, can never be rated too high. 
"That writer would deserve the fame of a 
public benefactor," said Fisher Ames, "who 
could exhibit the character of Hamilton, with 
the truth and force that all who intimately 
knew him conceived it; his example would 
then take the same ascendant, as his talents. 
The portrait alone, however exquisitely fin- 
ished, could not inspire genius where it is not ; 
but, if the world should again have possession 
of so rare a gift, it might awaken it where it 
sleeps, as by a spark from heaven's own altar; 
for, surely, if there is any thing like divinity 
in man, it is in his admiration for virtue. 

" The country deeply laments when it turns 
its eyes back, and sees what Hamilton was ; 
but my soul stiffens with despair," continues 
Ames, " when I think what Hamilton icould 
have been. It is not as Apollo, enchanting the 
shepherds with his lyre, that we deplore him ; 
it is as Hercules, treacherously slain in the 
midst of his unfinished labors, leaving the 
world overrun with monsters." 

But from the sagacious patriot so eloquentty 
deplored, let us turn to a brief contemplation 
of his admiring friend. 



80 FISHER AMES. 

FISHER AMES 

Was born at Dedham, Massachusetts, April 
9, 1758. At the early age of twelve, he was 
admitted to Harvard College, and in due 
course received its academic honors, with the 
reputation of uncommon talents and attain- 
ments. His perpetual devotion to classical 
literature, contributed signally to the embel- 
lishment of his well disciplined mind. He 
was very early distinguished both as a writer 
and popular orator. The fame which follow- 
ed his youthful efforts with the pen, won him 
a place in the Massachusetts Convention of 
1788, assembled to ratify the constitution. In 
the character of "Lucius Junius Brutus," he 
WTote a series of powerful essays to animate 
the government of his country to decision and 
energy; and as the revolutionary storm subsi- 
ded, as " Camillus," he taught the nation to 
profit by the dangers it had passed. 

He was appointed to the first Congress of 
the United States, and remained there during 
the whole of Washington's administration, 
which he zealously defended. His speech on 
the appropriation for the British treaty so 
wrought upon the house, by the force and pa- 
thos of its eloquence, that a member in oppo- 



FISHER AMES. 81 

sition moved to postpone the decision on the 
question, that they might not vote under the 
influence of a sensibility, which their cahn 
judgment might condemn. 

The training preparatory to public life 
which Fisher Ames experienced, was tho- 
rough and comprehensive. In moral worth 
he was excelled by no statesman of his day. 
His youth was studious, and his whole life 
was consecrated to the highest cultivation. 
He has himself said, "The heart is more than 
half corrupted, that does not burn with indig- 
nation at the slightest attempt to seduce it." 

He excelled all his cotemporaries in the 
fascinations of conversation, even more than 
he was superior to most persons in public de- 
bate. He quailed before none amid the severe 
splendors of the rostrum, but he turned with 
hearty delight and unequalled attractiveness 
to the more genial charms of social life, of 
which- he was very fond. " The value of 
friends," he observes, "is the most apparent 
and highest rated to those w^ho mingle in the 
conflicts of political life. The sharp contests 
for little points wound the mind, and the cease- 
less jargon of hypocrisy overpowers the facul- 
ties. I turn from scenes which provoke and 
disgust me, to the contemplation of the interest 
I have in private life, and to the pleasures of 



82 FISHER AMES. 

society with those friends whom I have so 
much reason to esteem." 

He who pulls but one string, will ring but 
one bell ; he who has not his whole nature 
cultivated, will be narrowly restricted in his 
influence on mankind. We reach the pas- 
sions only through the passions ; we impel in 
others only that which is identical with what 
we first move in ourselves. The great orator 
must be " many-sided" and variously educa- 
ted. He must grow up like the mountain 
oak, which, from unfolding germ to matured 
development, feeds on every kingdom of na- 
ture as it grows — taking in strength of heart, 
vigor of limb, and that ruggedness to endure 
which is perpetually appropriated from rocky 
earth and genial dews, from summer zephyrs, 
and wintry storms. 

Fisher Ames was the orator of genius among 
our revolutionary patriots. He was impelled 
in his oratorical career by those mighty wings 
vouchsafed to few, but which reappearing 
from time to time in aid of the choicest minds, 
are necessary to bear Truth through the sea 
of time. He united the substantial and the 
ornamental, — the multiflora rose-bush in full 
bloom wreathed round a column of granite,— 
the decorations welling up from the fount of 
fine emotion, and lending vividness and mo* 



FISHER AMES.' 83 

mentum to the penetration and judgment 
which always constitute the basis of a great 
character. He was fond of patient investiga- 
tion, when required ; but was more skillful in 
that prophetical sagacity of mind which lays 
hold of remote consequences with the force 
and accuracy of intuition. He seems to have 
meditated without effort, and to have produced 
without exhaustion. 

The sublime in speech is nothing else than 
that which true genius discovers beyond the 
hacknied regions of ordinary ideas. The im- 
pressive orator must plunge in the deep mines 
of thought, and not be content to gather the 
brilliant grains of sand which cover the pro- 
founder veins of massy gold. He must leap 
beyond vulgar conceptions, and create his 
thought in those pure regions which extend 
between the extremes of trite prettiness and va- 
pid exaggeration. The popular speaker must 
develope in their splendid magnitude the har- 
monious and imposing forms of expression 
which give to eloquence its force, its dignity, 
its vehemence, its gradation of thought and 
majestic movement. "The fulminating ar- 
rows of Demosthenes," says Cicero, " would 
strike with much less power, if they were 
emitted with less rythm and impetuosity." 

Acute sensibility, the inseparable concomi- 



84 



FISHER AMES. 



tant of genius, and potent auxiliary of reason, 
was finely developed and copiously abounded 
in Fisher Ames. A mind kindled with enthu- 
siasm unfolds its grandeur in the light of its 
own flames, as the sea is never more grand 
than at night when it heaves, storm-tossed 
and brilliant, with the illumination of its own 
phosphorescence. When fully aroused in de- 
bate, Ames frequently trembled from head to 
foot ; he wept in irrepressible emotion, and 
paused in the struggle to embody the inartic- 
ulate eloquence of his heart. He bent under 
the reflex passions he aroused in others, and 
then in turn bowed them imder the augmented 
weight of his own. It was said of this elo- 
quent statesman, by president Kirkland, " Af- 
ter debate, his mind was agitated, like the 
ocean after a storm, and his nerves were like 
the shrouds of a ship, torn by the tempest." 

The great orators of antiquity labored long 
and passionately to develope their own sensi- 
bilities, and, in speaking, to make their heart 
a mighty auxiliary to their intellect. They 
strove to feed the fires of their eloquence with 
the choicest materials selected from the most 
glowing sources ; not as dry quotations, frigid 
ornaments tagged to the limping dulness of 
their own stupid thoughts, but as spontaneous 
contributions of volcanic heat and power, 



FISHER AMES. 85 

kindling where they fell and blending with the 
flames they augmented. Their minds were 
rich with the selectest stores of elegant litera- 
ture, and as some pertinent maxim or splen- 
did illustration occurred in extemporaneous 
discourse, the gem grew suddenly brilliant 
amid the corruscations of inflamed fancy, 
while the orator poured his whole soul into 
his quotation, and sent it revivified and blazing 
to every enraptured bosom. This power of 
reproducing familiar thoughts with all their 
original inspiration and eff'ect, is a rare gift, 
and was constantly improved by Fisher Ames. 
He possessed the power of striking those deli- 
cate notes of soul-harmony which a sympa- 
thetic audience always repeat with rapture 
in their own hushed hearts. He diffused a 
charm around him, like ambrosia evaporating 
from an open vase, and which was worthy to 
be served at the table of the gods. He was 
not simplj' a rhetorician, or an adept in meta- 
physics, he was an orator by the true passion 
of eloquence ; he was a musician in his tones, 
a painter in his looks, and a poet in his ex- 
pressions. 

Ames was a sound reasoner, but his style 
of argument was harmonious with the consti- 
tution of his mind. The logic that is most felt 
8 



86 FISHER AMES. 

is least seen, as the cannon ball that rends the 
target is not visible in its flight. True force 
should be measured by its efficiency, rather 
than by the manner in which its results are 
executed. 

Popular eloquence must be rich in colors, 
simple in subject, sparkling with light, palpa- 
ble in premises, bold in deduction, and varied 
in tone, in order to please the multitude and 
convince all. As in nature there are some 
prominent objects which can be seen from far, 
as a house, a tree, or a mountain, so there are 
but a few reasons so obvious as to strike the 
common mind. That which a philosopher 
comprehends by an argument, the mass of the 
people comprehend in an image. It is indis- 
pensable to use variety. The ear is soon 
pained with sameness of tone, and the soul 
loaths a perpetual string of syllogisms. 

Ames in this respect was a master. He was 
easily excited, but exercised a sovereign power 
of self-control. He knew that it was necessary 
to be master of his own passions, in order to 
govern those of others. He assumed diversi- 
fied forms and hues with Protean facility. 
Now he skims the ground and obscm^es him- 
self in smoke ; anon he darts through the em- 
pyrean with corruscations of flame, and with 



FISHER AMES. 87 

resplendent light illuminates the waters, the 
earth and the heavens. 

" The rapid argument 
Soar'd in gorgeous flight, linking earth 
With heaven by golden chains of eloquence ; 
Till the mind, all its faculties and powers, 
Lay floating, self-surrendered in the deep 
Of admiration." 

His imagination was imperial. The whole 
universe of nature and art were at its control 
and subordinated to its use. The beautiful 
and the sublime, those two great pulses of 
eloquence, he felt deeply and could embody 
in multifarious forms. There were many stops 
of great power in the organ of his soul, and he 
could touch them all in a manner to suit his 
purpose and the time, — now piping in tender 
pathos, like night winds sighing among reeds 
over a fountain in a lonely dell, and, on more 
fearful occasions, crashing on the startl.ed ear 
like bursting tempests, or distress guns boom- 
ing amid the awful magnificence of elemental 
storms. 

His power of giving a rapid sketch of a com- 
prehensive and diversified field, is exemplified 
in the following paragraph. He is speaking 
of the ambition of a nation whose infideUty he 
dreaded. "Behold France, conducting her 
intrigues and arraying her force between the 
arctic circle and the tropics ; see her, in Rus- 



88 FISHER AMES. 

sia, the friend of despotism; in Ireland, the 
auxiliary of a bloody democracy; in Spain and 
Italy, a papist; in Egypt, a mussulman; in In- 
dia, a bramin; and at home, an atheist; coun- 
tenancing despotism, monarchy, democracy, 
religion of every sort, and none at all, as suits 
the necessity of the moment." 

As an example of his illustrious imagina- 
tion, take the following. He is speaking of 
England as a model of national industry to be 
imitated, rather than the nations on the conti- 
nent. Among the latter he proceeds to say : 
*' Commerce has not a single ship ; arts and 
manufactures exist in ruins and memory only ; 
credit is a spectre that haunts its burying- 
place ; justice has fallen on its own sword ; 
and liberty, after being sold to Ishmaelites, is 
stripped of its bloody garments to disguise its 
robbers." 

Mr. Ames habitually dealt in a copious use 
of figures of speech. In his eulogy on Wash- 
ington, he discourses as follows : 

"Great generals have arisen in all ages of 
the world, and perhaps most in those of des- 
potism and darkness. In times of violence 
and convulsion, they rise, by the force of the 
whirlwind, high enough to ride in it, and di- 
rect the storm. Like meteors, they glare on 
the black clouds with a splendor, which, while 



FISHER AMES. 89 

it dazzles and terrifies, makes nothing visible 
but the darkness. The fame of heroes is in- 
deed growing vulgar ; they multiply in every 
long war; they stand in history, and thicken 
in their ranks, almost as undistinguished as 
their own soldiers. 

'• But such a chief magistrate as Washington 
appears like the pole-star in a clear sky, to 
direct the skillful statesman. His presidency 
will form an epoch, and be distinguished as 
the age of Washington. Already it assumes 
its high place in the political region. Like 
the milky way, it whitens along its allotted 
portion of the hemisphere. The latest gener- 
ations of men will survey, through the teles- 
cope of history, the space where so many vir- 
tues blend their rays, and delight to separate 
them into groups and distinct virtues. As the 
best illustration of them, the living monument, 
to which the first of patriots would have cho- 
sen to consign his fame, it is my earnest prayer 
to heaven, that our country may subsist, even 
to that late day, in the plenitude of its liberty 
and happiness, and mingle its mild glory with 
Washington's." 

But after all, the chief excellence in Mr. 

Ames, and one that renders him a worthy 

model to be emulated by all public speakers, 

was his great industry and care in improving 

8* 



90 FISHER AMES. 

to perfection the chaste beauty of his style. 
As a specimen of his elaborate composition, 
and at the same time the very best description 
of himself, we will conclude with the follow- 
ing extract from his encomium on Alexander 
Hamilton. 

" It is rare, that a man, who owes so much 
to nature, descends to seek more from indus- 
try ; but he seemed to depend on industry, as 
if nature had done nothing for him. His hab- 
its of investigation were very remarkable ; his 
mind seemed to cling to his subject, till it had 
exhausted it. Hence the uncommon superi- 
ority of his reasoning powers, a superiority 
that seemed to be augmented from every 
source, and to be fortified by every auxiliar}', 
learning, taste, wit, imagination, and elo- 
quence. These were embellished and en- 
forced by his temper and manners, by his fame 
and his virtues. It is difiicult, in the midst of 
such various excellence, to say, in what par- 
ticular the effect of his greatness was most 
manifest. No man more promptly discerned 
truth ; no man more clearly displayed it : it 
was not merely made visible — it seemed to 
come bright with illumination from his lips. 
But prompt and clear as he was, fervid as 
Demosthenes, like Cicero, full of resource, he 
was not less remarkable for the copiousness 



FISHER AMES. 9X 

and completeness of his argument, and left 
little for cavil, and nothing for doubt. Some 
men take their strongest argument as a wea- 
pon, and use no other ; but he left nothing to 
be inquired for more — nothing to be answered. 
He not only disarmed his adversaries of their 
pretexts and objections, but he stripped them 
of all excuse for having urged them; he con- 
founded and subdued, as well as convinced. 
He indemnified them, however, by making his 
discussion a complete map of his subject; so 
that his opponents might, indeed, feel ashamed 
of their mistakes, but they could not repeat 
them. In fact, it was no common effort that 
preserved a really able antagonist from be- 
coming his convert ; for the truth, which his 
researches so distinctly presented to the un- 
derstanding of others, was rendered almost 
irresistibly commanding and impressive by the 
love and reverence, which, it was ever appa- 
rent, he profoundly cherished for it in his own. 
While patriotism glowed in his heart, wisdom 
blended in his speech her authority with her 
charms." 



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94 LIST OF BOOKS. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

BURNET'S NOTES ON THE EARLY SETTLEMENT 
OF THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY, 2 50 

FLORAL EMBLEMS, OR MORAL SKETCHES, from 

Fiowers, by Margaret Coxe, »..,.,„..- -- 50 

Do. Do. colored plates •• ■ 63 

AMERICAN ECONOMICAL HOUSE - KEEPER, 9th 
edition, by Mrs. Howland,»- • 25 

PILGRIMAGE OF ADAM AND DAVID, with a sketch 
of tlieir Heavenly employment. A Bible Allegory. By 
Rev. James Gallaher. 1 vol. 12 rao., • 125 

INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LITERATURE: or 
the origin and development of the English Language, 
n ith Gems of Poetry. By E. L. Rice, Esq. 1 00 

KEID"S NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY, 12mo. 564 
jiages, sheep, • .. .. 1 00 

KINGSLEY'S JUVENILE CHOIR, 40 

BISHOP McILVAINE ON CONFIRMATION, 25 

' «' " Paper cover. 15 

ORATORS OF THE REVOLUTION. The Eloquence 
of the Colonial and Revolutionary Times, with Sketches 
of Early American Statesmen and Patriots. By Rev. E. L. 
Masfooa." >-■ 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 

DAVIES' FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC,— De- 
signed for beginners, or the first steps of a course of 
Arithmetical instruction. - • •• 20 



LIST OF BOOKS. 95 

DA VIES' ARITHMETIC. It is the object of this ^vork to 
explain in a clear and brief manner, the properties of 
numbers and the best rules for their practical application. 40 

KEY TO DAVIES' ARITHMETIC, with the addition of 
numerous examples, 40 

DAVIES' UNIVERSITY ARITHMETIC, embracing the 
science of numbers and their numerous applications. •• •• 75 

KEY TO DAVIES' UNIVERSITY ARITHMETIC,-- •• 50 

DAVIES' ALGEBRA-Embracing the first principles of 
the science, 88 

KEY TO DAVIES' ALGEBRA 50 

DAVIES' ELEMENTARY GEOMETRY— This work em- 
braces the elementary principles of Geometry. The rea- 
soning is plain and concise, but at the same time, strictly 
rigorous 75 

DAVIES' ELEMENTS OF DRAWING AND MENSU- 
RATION, Applied to the Mechanic Arts 84 

DAVIES' BOURDON'S ALGEBRA— Being an abridg- 
ment of the work of M. Bourdon 1 50 

DAVIES' LEGENDRE'S GEOMETRY AND TRIGO- 
NOMETRY— Being an abridgment of the work of INI. 
Legendre. 1 50 

DAVIES' SURVEYING— With a description and plates 
of the Theodolite Compass, Plane-Table and Level, 1 50 

DAVIES' ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY— Embracing the 
Equations of the Point and Straight Line; a System of 
Conic Sections; the Equations of the Line and Plane in 
Space, &c. 1 50 

DAVIES' DIFFERENTIAL AND INTEGRAL CALCU- 
LUS— Embracing the Rectification and Quadrature of 
Curves, the Mensuration of Surfaces, and the Cubature of 
Solids, 1 50 



96 LIST OF BOOKS. 

DAVIES' DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY— With its appli- 
cation to Spherical Projections, 1 75 

DAVIES' SHADES, SHADOWS, AND LINEAR PER- 
SPECTIVE, 2 00 

WILLARD'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 
OR REPUBLIC OF AMERICA— ABRIDGED-Illustra- 
ted with Maps and Engravings, — Designed for Schools. 50 

WILLARD'S UNIVERSAL HISTORY— Illustrated by a 
Chronological Picture or Temple of Time— A Perspective 
Sketch of the Course of Empire, together v^ith a Series of 
Maps and Engravings, 8vo sheep, 1 50 

GOULD'S ABRIDGMENT OF ALISON'S EUROPE— 
From the coraraencemeut of the French Revolution, in 
1789, to the restoration of the Bourbons, in 1815.— De- 
signed for Colleges and Academies, and General readers, 
—University edition, 8vo. plain sheep 1 25 

HOMER'S ILIAD— Pope's translation, 1 vol. 32mo. sheep, 75 

TOWN'S SPELLERS, 12* 

ANALYSIS, 37i 

REID'S ENGLISH DICTIONARY, 1 00 

KINGSLEY'S JUVENILE CHOIR, 1 00 

HARP OF DAVID, 1 00 

D. B. & Co. keep constantly on hand, in large quantities, the 
publications of the following Houses, and offer their Books to 
Dealers at a liberal discount from publishers' prices. 

WILEY & PUTNAM, N. Y. J E. H. BUTLER & Co. Phil'd. 
HARPER & BROS. ♦' G. S. APPLETON, 

BANKS, GOULD & Co. " LEA & BLANCHARD, " 

D. APPLETON & Co. " i LITTLE & BROWN, Boston. 






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